Liberia Road Deal Engineer Urges Senate to Cancel $365m Agreement

A prominent Liberian engineer is urging the Senate to reject a proposed $365 million road‑financing agreement with the Sierra Leonean firm Pavi Fort‑Al Associates (SL) Ltd. John Kpehe Boimah, team lead of Boimah Engineering Incorporated (BEI)—a Liberian firm that specializes in highway engineering—argues that the deal threatens Liberia’s economic sovereignty and technical capacity. Drawing on his professional expertise and a sense of patriotic duty, Boimah frames his appeal not as mere criticism but as a constructive pathway toward responsible, inclusive national development. He insists that Liberia’s infrastructure should be engineered by and for Liberians, and that the concession is structurally flawed, lacking the technical and financial expertise needed for a project of this scale.

Boimah identifies five critical areas where the Pavi Fort concession could undermine Liberia’s sovereignty and sustainable development. First, it would systematically exclude Liberian professionals from national resources. Second, it would result in job losses and limit professional empowerment. Third, there would be no meaningful technical transfer or capacity‑building component. Fourth, the agreement would economically disempower the country and deepen poverty. Fifth, it would perpetuate a neo‑colonial dependency model.

Instead of the proposed concession, Boimah urges the Senate to direct the Ministry of Public Works to engage a competent international firm through a transparent, competitive bidding process. Such a process would ensure value for money, technical soundness, and binding clauses for local content and capacity transfer. He emphasizes that true, sustainable development lies in empowering Liberians rather than outsourcing the nation’s future.

BEI, Boimah’s firm, exemplifies the expertise that should be leveraged and expanded within Liberia. With twenty years of experience in highway development and adherence to international standards, BEI represents the local capacity that can drive the country’s infrastructure projects. Boimah’s appeal calls on the Legislature to choose sovereign reason over short‑term expediency and to champion a development model that places Liberian professionals and capacity at its core.