–As Workers of Sub-Contractors Complain of Months of Arrears

In 2018, the Liberian Government signed a Transmission and Distribution contract with the Delegation of the European Union to Liberia, MBH Power Limited and Intec-Gopa to design and build 66KV over headlines and extension of existing 66/22/10KV power lines that will help Monrovia to absorb more electricity from the Mount Coffee Hydro Plant to be transmitted to substations on Bushrod Island, New Kru Town, Capitol Hill, Congo Town and Paynesville.

The Monrovia Consolidation of Electricity Transmissions and Distribution Project will have a 24-months duration. A similar project was implemented under the 9th EDF for the electricity grids. Under the two programmes, the EU has earmarked and invested approximately €100 million Euros into Liberia’s energy sector.

In collaboration with the EU, the National Authorizing Office (NAO) Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning monitors the project to manage, coordinate, programme and oversee the EU-funded projects in Liberia.

One of the companies the Government of Liberia contracted through the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) is MBH Power Limited.

MBH Power Limited is a total energy solutions company providing world-class services to meet the growing demand of the power sector in emerging markets. It focuses on EPC solutions in Transmission and Distribution, Metering & Energy Audit and Turnkey solutions in Conventional & Non-Conventional Power Generation. MBH Power has now embarked on development of a 300 MW Independent Power Producer project in Nigeria.

MBH Power is a member of the Tolaram Group of companies (www.tolaram.com). Tolaram Group has been in business for more than 60 years. It is headquartered in Singapore with business interests in Asia, Africa and Europe. The Group trades with companies in over 75 countries. It has a diversified portfolio consisting of Consumer Goods, Infrastructure, Energy, Digital Services and other interests which include Distribution, Financial Services, Paper Products, Real Estate and Textiles.

Foundation of company’s growth over the years is expertise and deep understanding of power industry, importance of energy and ability to translate them into socially and economically desired solutions through leading edge technology and highly skilled human resources.

MBH power was incorporated as a Limited Company to provide premium services to energy sector of the country and commenced operations in the year 2004. Also expanding its international footprints, established through power contracts and supplies since its inception, today MBH is spread over Nigeria, Ghana, India, Tanzania, Liberia, Niger, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Gambia, Cameroon, UAE and Singapore. With the foundation of its rich experience, MBH Power today is heading towards exploring opportunities to enlighten future generations.

The Liberia Connection

MBH Power Limited Liberia is a total energy solutions company providing world-class services to meet the growing demand of the power sector in emerging markets. It focuses on EPC solutions in Substation, Transmission Distribution and Metering.

They are currently in Liberia working on the LACEEP and LACEEP AF projects Funded by the World Bank for the Liberian People; and the EU Projects Funded by the European Union for the Liberian People.

Despite the information MBH Power Limited has posted on its website concerning its productivity, investigation has unearthed that this company hired by the Liberian government through the LEC, is unable to pre-finance some of the projects it won to undertake.

Against this backdrop, recently a group of workers of a sub-contractor hired by MBH Power Limited to work on several projects in Monrovia as was hired by the LEC to do, have complained that for close to four to five months they are yet to be paid their salaries having worked on transmission lines, install meters among many others. The workers told IPNEWS that despite being hired by a sub-contractor that MBH Power Limited out-sourced the contract to do, they have not been paid US$300 they were hired for, and after four months their Indian boss (whose name is yet to be verified) was only able to provide US$50 each to the aggrieved employees.

According to the workers, they were hired to work on High tension wire 66 and 33, the Banjor project in Virginia, the Patience Shop project in Barnersville Township, and the Jamaica project in Paynesville.

The aggrieved workers said they had to stop work because they are not being paid and are owed several months. They even told IPNEWS that having gone to the labor court to seek redress concerning their arrears, they had to give up in pursuance of the case out of frustration because they observed that they were heading to no logical conclusion because according to them, ‘money may have changed hands’ in the process. However, IPNEWS was not able to independently confirm the accusation.

Efforts to contact the Sub-contractor (company) that MBH outsourced the contract proved futile as several attempts yielded no fruits. Meanwhile, investigation continues…

At the same time, Chris Electrical Company (CEC) has hinted IPNEW that between the periods of 2-15-2016, MBH awarded it contract in keeping with the electrical project, but CEC had to abandon the project because MBH failed to pay them, thus resulting the CEC owing their workers for several months.

The CEO of Chris Electrical Company (CEC confided in IPNEWS that the LEC through MBH owes them a little over US$12-15,000, and thus failure its part to pay the money, the CEC had no option but to stop working for the MBH in regards to undertaking LEC projects.

Award of Contracts to Non-Performers in Liberia in Recent Times

Since the inception of the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) government ascendancy to state power, there has been reports that several contracts were awarded to non-performer companies either for road construction, electricity projects, and Shipment Inspection as well as health facilities among many others.

In recent times, East International, reportedly linked to the former Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel McGill, was accused of not being capable to adequately carry out the Roberts International Airport (RIA) road expansion project, having won millions of dollars contract for the project.

It said East International having won the contract reportedly outsourced it to another road construction having realized that it had no expertise to undertake the project, though it had won the bid to so. There were reports political influence may have played a role in East International winning the contract.

Today, the RIA road project, though ongoing but civil engineers have complained about the road project not being fully implemented according to engineering specifics.

Another case in point is the recent discovery and seizure of about US$100 million worth of cocaine in Liberia, where it was said the inspectorate group that took over from BEAVER, the previous company that had the pre and post-shipment inspection, MedTech failed to inspect the container prior to shipment to Liberia and after arrival in Liberia, had to do destination inspection at their warehouse, where it was suspected that it was at that point that the US$100 million passed under the radar without detection.

At the moment, workers of MHB, who are usually supervised by Indian nationals, under the pretext of working for sub-contractor companies, have continued to complain of being owed several months in arrears by the mother company that has secured the electricity expansion contract from the LEC.

Liberia Electricity Corporation Contract Extension Announcement

Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) was established in 1973 under a Government of Liberia (GoL) legislative act that mandated LEC to oversee the country’s generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity supply. In 2017, as part of the Liberian Energy Sector Reform Project, a Management Service Contract (MSC) was tendered to international parties, with ESB International assuming management control of LEC in January 2018. Funding for the first three years was via the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCCC).

The award of the MSC was based on incontrovertible requirements for improvements within LEC in several key areas; these included the reduction in commercial losses and the need for training and development of local staff. However, ESB International soon realized that LEC required significantly more support and a different approach to turn it around to deliver the improvements.

ESB International set about increasing the level of effort and the mix of resources to meet the challenge. From the outset, the team focused beyond being more than just a third-party organization delivering technology and knowledge transfer but by making real efforts to work with and for the community. With this approach by year three of the contract, ESB International has made substantial progress despite the challenges. Some notable achievements included a 14% reduction in operating costs, implementation of an Integrated Management System and a 50% reduction in blackouts.

The final two remaining years of the five-year MSC were originally intended to move into an advisory role for the incoming management team that had been put in place. With the MCCC funding closing at the end of year three, there was a shared understanding amongst the donor community that substantial work remained to achieve critical targets within LEC. For the remaining two years, the World Bank has committed to providing the necessary funds for the MSC, and a contract for continuation has been put in place between ESB International and the World Bank through to January 2023.  Investigation continues….