LIBERIA: Prepared to chart A New Course …. LWSC Board Chair asserts

From all indications, it appears that the recent tour of the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation’s, (LWSC) facilities in and around Montserrado county by members of its Board of Directors and top management accomplished more than just the visibility of the LWSC’s assets and infrastructures but also provided the much needed platform for its board of directors and top management to navigate in addressing several hurdles, some of which are old aged, that impede accountability, efficiency and productivity at the LWSC.

Speaking on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 when he and other members of the Corporation’s Board of Directors and top management team concluded a day’s long tour of the Corporation’s facilities, the chairman of the Board of Directors of the LWSC, Dr. Khalifa Bility described the tour as a learning journey, an invaluable experience and an opportunity to chart a new course in the history of the LWSC.

“We have experienced a lot as we toured and assessed these facilities; now the Board returns to chart a new course that will go a long way in the history of this Corporation” Dr. Bility told newsmen.

According to Dr. Bility, the Board is now empowered from a firsthand perspective to open a brand new chapter in a magnificent way as the new management seeks to provide durable solutions to several challenges at the public utility.

“The tour today provides us detailed information on the state of majority of our facilities in Montserrado county and knowledge on what is obtaining at the LWSC, what needs to be done and when and how particular actions aimed at reshaping the Corporation can be executed”; Dr. Bility asserted.

According to the chairman of the LWSC Board of Directors, three (3) areas of interest to the Board were identified from the tour; something he said will generate actions from the Board of Directors and top management of the Corporation in the soonest possible time.

Dr. Khalifa Bility identified the three (3) areas of interest for consideration and immediate action as equipment and facilities that need to be repaired which include old and damaged assets and infrastructures of the LWSC.

“Just from the tour today, the Board has observed firstly that there are several assets and infrastructures that need to be repaired and this we must do to get the Corporation up and running again”; Dr. Bility noted.

According to the LWSC Board chair, these assets and infrastructures must be given attention for repair in order to avoid the need for the purchase of new ones whilst the entity grapples with a number of other challenges to include salaries.

Dr. Bility revealed further that the Board also identified several equipment and tools that need to be discarded or disposed through a process of further assessing and examining these equipment and tools to establish that they are no longer useful to the Corporation.

“After these inspections and tours, we hope to begin a process of identifying several equipment and tools through the involvement of the relevant government’s agency that can be discarded and disposed”; he noted.

Dr. Bility stressed the need for discarding all concerned equipment and tools as providing the Corporation with the information of what to go for when engaging donors and central government for support and assistance to the Corporation.

“We cannot continue to keep tools and equipment in our fleet that are no longer useful, how then do we make a case for new ones” the LWSC Board chairman wondered.

According to Dr. Bility, another area of interest to the Board and top management of the LWSC for key actions and consideration are facilities that need immediate repairs and routine maintenance.

He notes that in the absence of regular servicing and repair of water treatment and supply equipment, office logistics and sewer equipment, the Corporation stands at a disadvantaged position as resources that could be directed to service improvement will compellingly be diverted to the untimely purchase of new materials and equipment that could have simply been serviced.

“We cannot continue to spend meager resources on purchasing new materials and equipment due to carelessness and our inability to provide routine maintenance”; Dr. Bility expressed.

Additionally, the LWSC Board chair has underscored the need for regular and periodic human resource training at the public utility; something he noted will ensure productivity and efficiency at the workplace.

“The issue of human resource capacity building cannot be divorced from the list of our interest as we want to ensure that as our operations are technical and complex, it is imperative that the people who are managing these systems can be trained and retrained from time to time”; Dr. Bility noted.

According to Dr. Bility, in order for the staff of the LWSC to meet up with the demands of operating the kind of infrastructure at the entity, periodic capacity building activities will be significantly prioritized under the new management team by and through the support of the Board of Directors.

The chairman of the LWSC Board of Directors was speaking Wednesday, March 27, 2024 when he and other members of the Corporation’s board of Directors and top management team concluded a day’s long tour of the Corporation’s facilities in and around Montserrado county.

The activity, according to the LWSC Managing Director Hon. Mohammed Ali was intended to provide, by a firsthand experience, members of Corporation’s board the general situation of the LWSC.

Managing Director Ali, who is on records of promising to institute several measures at the public utility to change the narratives, said it was important that members of his board have an on sight knowledge of what the situations are at the LWSC ahead of his management team’s request to the board for approval a number of key actions which will deliver the transformation he seeks.

The guarded tour by the Board of Directors and top management team as well as members of the Liberian media covered most of the Corporation’s Montserrado facilities to include one-million-gallon city reservoir located up Ducor in Monrovia, the booster station situated on Newport street, the sewer treatment plant located in Fiamah sinkor and the Gantry situated at the fish market along the Tubman boulevard.

Other facilities toured on Wednesday include the new one-million-gallon rock hill reservoir and the GSA road mini pump station located on the GSA road in Paynesville, the thirty-six inch (36”) transmission replacement project route and site situated in Johnsonville and the Water Treatment Plant located in White Plains, Montserrado county.