BO WATERSIDE, Grand Cape Mount County -- With Sierra Leone's president standing beside him at a groundbreaking ceremony on Liberia's western frontier, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr. on Saturday launched a $363.9 million public-private partnership that will pave 255 kilometers of primary roads across four counties and open a strategic trade corridor from Western Liberia to the Mano River region.
The Western Corridor Road Development Project will span Montserrado, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount and Lofa counties across five major road corridors. Construction is expected to be completed within five years, after which the project will transition into a long-term tolling, operations, and maintenance phase under a Public-Private Partnership Hybrid Annuity Model blending EPC and BOT financing structures. Pavifort Al Associates is the executing partner under a 25-year agreement.
"The 255-kilometer corridor represents the future of West Africa," Bio said at the ceremony. "It will connect nations, facilitate trade, and bring us closer as a region. What we witness today is not just infrastructure development, it is the dividend of peace, stability, and cooperation."
President Boakai framed the project in equally expansive terms, describing it as a defining step toward modernizing Liberia's road infrastructure and unlocking economic opportunity across key development corridors. But he also used the occasion to deliver a blunt accounting of how far Liberia still has to go.
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Of the country's more than 14,000 kilometers of roads, only 1,442 kilometers -- just 10.26% -- are paved. For a country approaching its 200th year of existence, Boakai said, that is an indictment that can no longer be deferred.
"For a nation approaching 200 years of existence, this is simply intolerable," he said.
"This is about dignity and opportunity for our people," he added. "It opens vital access routes, reduces travel time, lowers transportation costs, and connects communities that have long been isolated."
The project will be built to international standards, Boakai pledged, incorporating climate resilience, enhanced engineering and a sustainable maintenance framework designed to serve both present and future generations.
"This Project will be built to international standards, with climate resilience, enhanced engineering, and a sustainable maintenance framework to serve both present and future generations," he said.
The corridor's five components reflect the scale of the undertaking. The St. Paul Bridge to Klay highway will be expanded into a 38-kilometer dual carriageway. The Klay to Bo Waterside road will be rehabilitated over 79 kilometers as a single carriageway. The Klay to Tubmanburg corridor will be upgraded across 22 kilometers. The Madina Junction to Robertsport road will be reconstructed over 30 kilometers. And the Voinjama to Kolahun to Mendikorma route, the deepest reach of the project into Liberia's interior, will cover 86 kilometers, connecting Lofa County to the Sierra Leone border.
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Boakai said the corridor, alongside the planned Mano River and Kongo corridors, will significantly boost cross-border trade and position Liberia as a critical gateway to the West African region.
"By 2030, we expect to see a transformed western corridor, one that drives trade, strengthens unity, and fuels national growth," he said.
The financing arrangement reflects a strategic collaboration between government and private sector partners, enabling the mobilization of nearly $364 million to deliver what officials describe as durable, high-quality road infrastructure. The project is also projected to create more than 1,000 jobs and generate skills transfer opportunities for Liberian workers.
Pavifort CEO Alimou Sanu Barrie, whose company operates across five African countries, pledged that the roads would meet international standards and committed to maintaining them for the full duration of the agreement.
"Our reputation is on the line," Barrie said.
