Liberia loses $35m to power theft annually
MONROVIA - Liberia’s is said to be losing $35 million annually as result of increasing spate of power theft.
That’s the revelation from the West African nation’s main Power Provider, Liberia Electricity Corporation.
Liberia Electricity Corporation says about 60 percent of its power are being stolen by individuals and businesses through illegal connections.
The development is said to be affecting the country’s quest to embark on major expansion works to rebuild its power sector.
Available data also showed that only 12 percent of Liberians and less than 20 percent of residents in the Capital Monrovia have electricity.
This means the West African nation has one of the lowest access rate to electricity on the African continent.
Meanwhile President George Weah’s government has set itself the target of increasing access to electricity 70 percent of it populace by 2030.
Shortly after becoming President this year Weah announced a slash in his salary by 25 percent. This was to help fix a country he described as “broke”.
Liberia was founded by freed US slaves in the 19th Century but in the past decades suffered from civil war and Ebola outbreak.
These incidences have virtually collapsed its economy.