Liberian Engineer Urges Legislature to Reject Pavi Fort Agreement

In a powerful appeal grounded in professional expertise and patriotic duty, Professional Engineer John Kpehe Boimah, Team Lead of Boimah Engineering Incorporated (BEI), is calling on the Liberian Senate to immediately and unconditionally cancel the proposed Pavi Fort – Al Associates (SL) LTD US$365 million road financing agreement currently before it for ratification.

This urgent call to action, he said, is made to protect Liberia from entering into another problematic infrastructure concession that risks replicating the pitfalls of past agreements, such as other high-way deals, which have historically burdened the nation with debt while offering limited tangible benefits to its people and economy.

Engineer Boimah noted that his position is not merely a critique but a constructive pathway toward responsible and inclusive national development.

At the heart of Engineer Boimah’s argument is the fundamental principle that Liberia’s development must be engineered by and for Liberians.

He asserts that the proposed concession with the Sierra Leonean firm, Pavi Fort – Al Associates (SL) LTD, is structurally flawed and poses an existential threat to the empowerment, professional growth, and economic participation of Liberian engineers, contractors, and technical professionals.

“This is not about nationality; it is about capacity, credibility, and a proven track record,” Engineer Boimah stated emphatically. “The available evidence suggests that Pavi Fort – Al Associates (SL) LTD does not possess the demonstrated technical or financial expertise to unilaterally manage a project of this magnitude under a private financing arrangement. To entrust them with our nation’s critical infrastructure is an unacceptable risk. We must learn from history, not be doomed to repeat it.”

Instead, Engineer Boimah respectfully urges the Senate, otherwise known as the Upper House of the Liberian Legislature, to direct the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) to engage a competent, well-experienced international firm through a transparent, fair, and competitive international bidding process.

This approach ensures value for money, technical soundness, and, most critically, the inclusion of binding clauses for local content and capacity transfer.

The Five Pillars of Caution: Why the Pavi Fort – Al Associates (SL) LTD Agreement Must Be Rejected

Engineer Boimah’s analysis outlines five critical areas where the Pavi Fort concession threatens to undermine Liberia’s sovereignty and sustainable development:

1. The Systematic Exclusion of Liberian Professionals from National Resources

fdThe concession centralizes infrastructure development contracts, capital flows, and decision-making authority in the hands of a single foreign entity.

This monopolization effectively locks Liberian engineering firms out of access to national resources, project funding, and procurement opportunities. Liberian firms are reduced to spectators in their own economy, unable to compete, grow, or reinvest profits locally.

“By diverting millions in potential contracts and subcontracts to foreign hands, this concession is not just a deal; it is a deliberate act of draining our national wealth and systematically weakening Liberia’s indigenous technical sector,” warned Engineer Boimah.

2. The Loss of Employment and Unavailability of Professional Empowerment

The foreign-dominated framework of the concession provides minimal room for local employment in leadership and technical roles. Critical positions in design, engineering, and management will likely be filled by expatriates, confining Liberian engineers to low-level tasks. This exclusion deprives a generation of professionals of the opportunity to apply their education, gain experience, and ascend to senior positions.

“What message are we sending to our youth? That after years of study and sacrifice, there are no seats for them at the table of their own nation’s development. This erodes confidence in our institutions and perpetuates a cycle where foreigners build, while Liberians watch,” he asserted.

3. The Absence of Meaningful Technical Transfer and Capacity Building

A responsible concession must be a vehicle for knowledge transfer. The Pavi Fort- Al Associates (SL) LTD arrangement glaringly lacks structured provisions for technology sharing, skills development, or institutional training for Liberian engineers and the MPW. Without mandatory mentorship, local subcontracting clauses, or apprenticeship systems, technical know-how remains an imported commodity.

“We are not merely building roads; we are supposed to be building a nation. Without a binding mechanism for technical transfer, this concession ensures that Liberia will remain perpetually dependent, unable to execute its own infrastructure projects without external help. This is a recipe for sustained underdevelopment,” Engineer Boimah cautioned.

4. Economic Disempowerment and the Deepening of Poverty

Sidelining local firms directly contributes to economic exclusion. The financial benefits–salaries, contracts, and profits–will flow outward, bypassing Liberian professionals and the local economy. This capital flight deepens poverty, erodes the emerging middle class, and fuels brain drain as talented Liberians seek opportunities abroad.

“This is an economic paradox: a development project that ultimately impoverishes our technical workforce. We cannot achieve inclusive growth by excluding our own people from the economic fruits of national projects,” he argued.

5. The Perpetuation of a Neo-Colonial Dependency Model

A nation that fails to empower its engineers cannot sustain its development. This concession risks locking Liberia into a pattern where all critical technical expertise and decision-making are foreign controlled. It fundamentally undermines the national vision for self-reliance and economic sovereignty.

“This model is a relic of a bygone era. It weakens institutions like the Engineering Society of Liberia, our universities, and the Ministry of Public Works.

True sovereignty means having the capacity to shape your own destiny. This agreement surrenders that capacity,” Engineer Boimah asserted.

A Vision for an Empowered Liberia

Liberian engineer firms including Boimah Engineering Incorporated (BEL) stand as testaments to the latent capacity within Liberia.

As a Highway Development entity specializing in road design, geotechnical investigations, and construction supervision, BEL adheres to international standards, including those of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). With twenty years of experience at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) in the United States, Engineer Boimah and his firm represent the very expertise that should be leveraged and grown within Liberia.

Engineer Boimah’s appeal is a clarion call for the Legislature to choose a path of sovereign reason over short-term expediency.

“The Honorable Legislature must recognize that true, sustainable development lies in empowering Liberians themselves–not in outsourcing the nation’s future. The Pavi Fort – Al Associates (SL) LTD concession, in its current form, is a direct threat to our economic empowerment and technical sovereignty. I implore our distinguished Senators to act with courage and wisdom, to rescind this agreement, and to champion a new model of development that places Liberian professionals and Liberian capacity at its very core. Let us build these roads but let us build ourselves in the process.”

Boimah Engineering Incorporated is a Liberian professional services firm specializing in highway engineering. Its core competencies include Deep Subsurface Investigations with data analysis and recommendations, Construction Supervision, Road Design, Bridge Design, and providing solutions to contractors’ soil-related problems. BEI brings a wealth of international and local experience, committed to deploying its expertise for sustainable development in Liberia.

By Liberian Observer.