GBARNGA — A US$500,000 bridge meant to end dangerous crossings between Civil Compound and Jorkpanmue remains unbuilt three months after contractors left the site, and residents say the excavation the workers left behind has made the creek deeper and more dangerous for children.
Residents of Civil Compound in Gbarnga accuse the Citizens Movement for Change, the organization that announced the project, of abandoning it. The CMC says the work is only suspended for the rainy season and will resume once the rains end.
"My son nearly fell into the creek a week ago because the people abandoned the area," said Lorpu Ford, a resident of the community.
Civil Compound Community Chairman Daniel Kerkulah said contractors engaged by the CMC arrived at the site but left about three months ago without beginning substantial construction. Speaking to The Liberian Investigator on Tuesday, Kerkulah said the contractors then removed several construction materials and pieces of equipment from the community, including solar lights, nails and planks.
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"They took away the solar lights intended for installation along the road to the creek," Kerkulah said.
Tensions rose when residents objected to an attempt by the contractors to remove steel rods from the site, Kerkulah said. He said the argument lasted several hours, after which community members insisted the remaining materials stay in the community until construction resumes. Residents say they will not release those materials until the contractors return and resume work.
"We have called them, but they barely answer calls," Kerkulah said.
Eldorado Kermue, chief of staff to Bong County District 3 Rep. Josiah Marvin Cole and head of the project's construction committee, rejected the residents' account in response to an inquiry from The Liberian Investigator, calling the allegation of abandonment "false, misleading, senseless and politically motivated."
Kermue said weather conditions make major bridge construction impractical at the moment.
"They can use their common sense to know that we are in the rainy season and you can't construct bridge in rainy season. The contractors are human beings, they are not associated with water," Kermue said.
He said the project team had already met with the benefiting communities to explain the delay. "We convened a meeting with the benefiting communities and informed them that construction could not continue due to the rain and that the project will resume after the rainy season," Kermue said.
Kermue confirmed that some materials were removed from the site but said the aim was to protect them from theft. He also said some community members are being held at the Gbarnga Central Prison in connection with the alleged theft of project materials.
Residents also accuse the contractors of leaving dangerous conditions behind after clearing land for an access road to the bridge. They said trees were cut and crops removed to open the road, which was never completed.
They said contractors removed large quantities of mud and sand from the riverbed, deepening sections of the crossing that children and other residents use daily. One resident said the digging began after the contractors complained about payment.
"The contractors said they were not being paid. So they started digging sand from the very creek they said they could construct the bridge," the resident said.
The CMC, led by Nimba County District 7 Rep. Musa Hassan Bility, announced plans for a bridge of about 38 meters connecting Civil Compound, Jorkpanmue and surrounding communities, valued at about US$500,000 and undertaken in partnership with Cole.
In October 2025, the Ministry of Public Works ordered the CMC to halt construction, citing required government approval and technical documentation, and said infrastructure projects must comply with national engineering standards. The order triggered a dispute over who had the authority to build the bridge. The government later instructed the CMC to proceed.
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In November 2025, Public Works Minister Roland Lafayette Giddings presented lawmakers with a government engineering plan for the bridge estimated at about US$1.3 million, prompting debate over the cost. The CMC had previously indicated it was prepared to let the government take the project over.
Residents say that history matters less to them than a safe crossing. They want the CMC to give a firm date for the contractors' return, to complete the bridge and the access road, and to account for the materials removed and the conditions left behind. Some are calling on the organization to hand the project to the national government if it cannot finish it.
