Liberia Gets Post-war Electricty Boost

HARRISBURG, Liberia, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Dec, 2016 ) - Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Thursday inaugurated the first turbine of a hydro plant totally destroyed during the nation's civil war.

"Thank all of you for being a part of this historic day; the day when big lights in a small way replaced small lights of yesterday," Sirleaf said during a ceremony at the Mount Coffee hydro plant.

The plant, constructed in 1967, served the Liberian capital Monrovia and other areas until it was destroyed in 1990. Since the end of the country's devastating 14-year civil war in 2003, electricity supply has been the economy's biggest challenge, with homes, businesses, hospitals and schools all operating with generators.

The hydro plant -- which is expected to provide 22 megawatts of electricty now and 88 megawatts after completion -- is comprised of ten turbines, only one of which has yet been made functional.