U.S. Ambassador Deborah Malac will sign an agreement on behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) with US$9 million to purchase equipment and installation supplies to supply electricity to 7,000 new customers in downtown Monrovia and the Sinkor area.

A media advisory issued Tuesday by the US Embassy accredited near Monrovia indicated that the signing ceremony will take place at the LEC main office in Waterside on Thursday, December 6 at 11:30 a.m. Ambassador Malac will make a brief remark before proceeding with the signing ceremony. The US government has is one of the leading contributors to the development of post war Liberia, and the latest grant will help strengthen the often off-and-on LEC supply power to tens of thousands of people who need it to make life better.

The lack of electricity in all parts of the city, least to mention the rest of the country, remains a major stumbling block to socio-economic development, creation of employment opportunities and delivery of basic social services.

The Government is working with the World Bank to restore the systematically looted and damaged Mount Coffey Hydro plant that supplied power before the destructive civil war erupted in 1989. At least US$300 million, half of the country's fiscal budget for 2012/2013 is needed to inject new life into the hydro, Finance Minister Amara Konneh has said.

The Ministry of Finance yesterday said it is in the final stages of concluding a US$875m grant agreement with the European Development Bank to finance the rehabilitation of the Mt. Coffee Hydro.