The Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Labour, has announced that all foreign workers recruited for the 86Km Mendikorma Road Corridor project in Lofa County must obtain ECOWAS Alien Work Permits. “This is a requirement under our Decent Work Act (DWA) and forms part of broader compliance with ECOWAS Protocols among member states,” the Labour Minister emphasized.
He made the declaration recently in the strategic border town of Mendikorma at the official groundbreaking ceremony of the road project by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai. Minister Kruah added that he will partner with his Public Works counterpart, Minister Giddings, to ensure that local youth within the project vicinity are recruited for the three-year project to elevate their economic status.
He commended President Boakai for his farsightedness in launching the project and similar initiatives in other parts of the country, including the Southeast, which the President announced is the next target for similar road connectivity. The Minister stressed the importance of road network across the rural parts of the country to ease travel difficulties, ensure easy movement of goods, especially foodstuffs, from farms to urban markets.
Minister Kruah called on local officials of his Ministry and locals within the project community to provide maximum cooperation and support to the road project team during the course of the construction. He added that the process of issuing ECOWAS Alien Work Permits to foreign contractors on the historic Mendikorma Road Corridor, which connects the Sierra Leonean border to Salayea, via the President’s hometown of Foya, will be conducted without any hindrance or bureaucratic bottlenecks, so as not to hinder the performance of foreign contractors.
Also speaking at the occasion, Cameroonian Ambassador accredited near Monrovia and Donyen of Diplomatic Corps, His Excellency Mr. Beng’yela Augustine Gang, expressed the fullest support of friendly countries with diplomatic ties to Liberia in all of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s ongoing development projects across the country.
Ambassador Gang underscored the importance of regional road network across the West Africa Subregion in enhancing trade, investment and easy movement of citizens of each member country. Earlier during the program, several top government officials hailing from Lofa County honored and gowned the President for his development initiatives and lauded him for the road project. They included Senators Momo Cyrus and Local Government Minister Francis S. Nyumalin, among others. Meanwhile, physical construction work on the project immediately commenced, following the official ground-breaking ceremony by the President.
