National Port Authority Halts Work On M/V Torm Alexandra - 19/08/08

The Management of Delta Impex, the company that won the bid to remove the sunken vessel at the Freeport of Monrovia has been served notice by the National Port Authority [NPA] to halt further works on the vessel M/V Torm Alexander and works to remove 14 other vessels sunk off the port pier. Delta Impex was contracted to perform the task within 24 months but now 18 months into the contract, the company is yet to remove any vessels. The General Manager of Delta Impex, Charles K. Mochiah, said the NPA management did not release the contract until 12/01/07 and that equipment brought into Liberia to complete the job was held for several months due to problems granting a duty free release on the equipment. Once equipment was cleared Metropolis had only 2-weeks left on its contract with Delta and had to leave the country due to other contractual agreements. Delta then brought in another company, which sent a team to inspect the job and work began on the wreckage. However according to Mochiah, while efforts were being made to remove the vessels, the NPA management blocked workers from entering the port by seizing their passes and allegedly granted permission to another company, Sandercon Construction Company, to carry out an inspection on the vessel. Mochiah reiterated that Delta's contract terms offered a no cost solution to the government or the NPA and has recalled that the previous two bidders competing for the contract in 2006 would take nothing less than US$3million plus the scrap value. The NPA had initially contracted GETMA Liberia Limited and Rio International to remove the wrecks prior to the contract with Delta. For more interesting news about the Freeport of Monrovia click on http://www.otal.com/liberia/index.htm

I can't believe it! They were so close! I guess lawyers will be involved now, and a long delay, and meanwhile Liberia's poorest people will continue to die because they can't afford the high price of rice which is partly because so few ships can come into the port because only 3 out of 5 berths are operational. Olly