Monrovia — Scores of vacationers leaving the nation through the Roberts Worldwide Airport almost missed their flight on Tuesday as a result of heavy and uncontrolled visitors on the RIA Freeway attributable to the United Methodist College’s commencement.
The airline was gracious sufficient to have delayed by an hour to provide passengers an opportunity to board since half of its vacationers had been stranded within the visitors.
The hour delay in Monrovia, nevertheless, led to many passengers lacking their connecting flights from Accra, Ghana to different locations.
The UMU commencement ceremony was held alongside the freeway which is the one route resulting in the nation’s solely worldwide airport. The freeway which has been beneath reconstruction for a few 12 months now with little progress has typically been described as a loss of life lure for vacationers.
Vacationers who had been left stranded on Tuesday mentioned the police did nothing to make sure the free circulation of visitors on that vital highway.
An officer of the Liberia Nationwide Police was heard suggesting to a 50-year-old worldwide passenger to get on a motorbike together with her baggage if she wished to make it to the airport in time.
The Africa World Airways leaves Monrovia at 2 pm however left at 3:30 pm.
“It is the Africa World Airways that leaves at 2:30. Half the aircraft didn’t make it by the shut of check-in. They’ve needed to delay the flight by an hour to provide us an opportunity,” the traveler mentioned.
A global passenger (requested for anonymity) who additionally almost missed the flight expressed disappointment on the stage of incompetency in Liberia. He lamented that the extent of corruption and incompetency he has noticed in Liberia overshadows related in all nations he has served in, together with different war-torn areas.
“It actually was demanding and embarrassing for the nation. Individuals is not going to need to come to Liberia in the event that they should cope with this,” he mentioned.
It may be recalled that on February 20, 2020, President George Manneh Weah broke grounds for the enlargement and pavement of the RIA Freeway. The 45km hyperlinks Monrovia to the airport.
The undertaking, which is being applied by a China-Liberia three way partnership with East Worldwide Group and China Railways being the contractors, is value about US$95m.
Development works have been described as sub-standards as a result of failure of the Ministry of Public Works to oversee and totally monitor the continuing works.
FrontPageAfrica visited the varied websites the place works are ongoing over the weekend and noticed that no consultant of the Ministry of Public Works was current on the web site visited. A couple of Chinese language engineers, informal employees, and safety officers from the Kakata Metropolis Company had been noticed. “This can be a lack of coordination, correct planning and failing to do due diligence or feasibility research earlier than embarking on such an enormous undertaking. That is simply being thoughtless to the influence that this undertaking could have on the atmosphere and on the lives of people that stay, work or journey on that exact freeway. That is like giving someone a job to do and the individual goes about doing the job with out even doing correct planning,” mentioned Mr. Adolphus McCritty, a seasoned civil engineer, and former President of the Liberia Institute of Architects.