The statement said Sesa Goa will own 51% of shares in the joint venture.

Elenilto will invest $77 million of the share in the Western Cluster project. The parties shall jointly finance the project which is estimated to be over $2.6 billion investment,” the statement added.

The firms assured that they remain committed to the development of the iron ore deposits through job creation, social services to communities around the concession areas, including asphalt road from Bomi County to the Mano River on the border with Sierra Leone, it said.

It added that the companies will contribute $3.1 million to Bomi, Grand Cape Mount and Gbarpolu counties. After ratification of the Mineral Development Agreement by the National Legislature, the government will receive $41 million as signature fee.

Source African Press Agency

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Speaking to reporters on Monday, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Rajaen Goel, said between June 7 and 17 Arcelor Mittal will ship 50,000 tons of iron ore from Liberia. Mr. Goel who said there will be two phases explained that during the first phase, four million tons of iron ore will be shipped per year, while during second phase, 15 million tons of the mineral will be shipped per year. According to him, the second phase will begin in six to seven months.

The Arcelor Mittal official said his company has since purchased three railroad trains to move the iron ore from various points. One of the three trains is worth an $3 million, he added.

In 2007 Arcelor Mittal announced a more than $2 billion investment in the former iron ore mining area of eastern Nimba County.

Source African Press Agency

African News from NetNewsPublisher.com

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The agreements were signed in the Kuwaiti capital, Kuwait City, on Sunday April 3 and include an agreement for the provision of a grant of approximately $3 million from the government of Kuwait to be utilized for the clearance of Liberia’s debt obligation to the Kuwaiti Fund.

The other agreement concerns debt relief that ensures that Liberia’s debt to the Fund in excess of $12 million is reduced consistent with the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, while another agreement for the provision of a grant of approximately $1.8 million to fund the technical and economic feasibility study and the preliminary design for the construction of the highway from Gbarnga to Mendicorma along the Sierra Leonean border linking the major cities of Gbarnga, Zorzor, Voinjama, Kolahun and Foya.

According to a Finance Ministry press statement issued in Monrovia late Tuesday, Liberia’s Finance Minister Augustine Ngafuan had signed for Liberia, while the Director of the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development, Abdulwahab Ahmed Al-Bader had signed on behalf of the Fund.

Mr. Al-Bader said the signing of the agreements opens a new chapter in the financial relations between Liberia and the Kuwaiti Fund, noting that the Fund was interested in helping Liberia rebuild its infrastructures, especially roads.

He said the fund will also be interested in helping to develop programs in agriculture, education and health.

In March, the Kuwaiti Fund pledged to reconstruct the road linking the central provincial capital Gbarnga to Mendicorma near the border with Sierra Leone at an estimated cost of $180 million.

Source African Press Agency

African News from NetNewsPublisher.com

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The signing ceremony took place Thursday in Monrovia, according to a finance ministry press statement issued here Friday.

Finance Minister Augustine Ngafuan who signed on behalf of the Liberian government said the first loan agreement between Liberia and Germany was signed in 1963 in the amount of US$29 million Euros. He said subsequent loans were used to finance other critical infrastructure projects, including the Capital Bye-Pass Road, water supply to the cities of Robertsport in Grand Cape Mount County, Kakata in Margibi County, Greenville in Sinoe County and Voinjama in Lofa County.

Portion of the loan was also used for electrical power distribution to the capital Monrovia, the Monrovia Sewage System, the establishment of the National Medical Depot (now the National Drug Service) and support to the Liberia News Agency, among others.

“The German government has been of very great help to Liberia’s development initiatives,” Minister Ngafuan said, and thanked the German government for standing by Liberia over the years.

The German ambassador to Liberia, Dr. Bodo Shaff who signed on behalf of his government said the final loan cancellation for Liberia is aimed at reducing Liberia’s foreign debt thus enabling it to move ahead with its Poverty Reduction Strategy and strategies for economic development and growth.

Source African Press Agency

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Ohene Nyanin said the money is coming from the Fast Track Initiative (FTI) Catalytic fund Grant for Basic Education in Liberia and will be used to “increase access and quality in rural areas by constructing 20 basic education schools and eight Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD).”

The country manager was speaking on Thursday at the opening of a a three-day National Consultative Conference held in the central provincial capital of Gbarnga located about 165 kilometers north of the capital Monrovia.

The theme of the conference is Transforming Education for Sustainable Growth and Development”.

Nyanin said portion of the money will help improve the conditions of teaching, materials, school grants, de-worming of children, and supporting the systems development of new ECD models.

Meanwhile, stakeholders attending the conference have called on the Liberian national legislature to fast track the designing of a National Education Act that will guide the system in post-war Liberia.

Source African Press Agency

African News from NetNewsPublisher.com

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Using data drawn from a four-day mission to Liberian border areas earlier this month, the WFP’s study on the Ivorian refugee influx and food security notes that “refugee consumption is inadequate” and highlights the need for refugees to receive either full food rations or partial rations complemented by supplementary feeding.

WFP also proposes food-for-work schemes for 20 percent of the host community most exposed to the negative consequences of the refugee influx and an extension of supplementary feeding activities in the host area.

The report says that most of the estimated 25,000 refugees are concentrated in northeastern Nimba County, with a tiny percentage farther south in Grand Gedeh County, and that ordinary households are often hosting between three and five refugees.

People are fleeing Cote d’Ivoire to neighboring countries since a post-election stalemate broke out in this country in November.

Source African Press Agency

African News from NetNewsPublisher.com

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According to a press statement issued in Monrovia, connection of the 79 kilometer road will kick off on January 30 and last for six months.

The project will be implemented by the government through the Infrastructure Implementation Unit at the Ministry of Public Works, the statement said.

Source African Press Agency

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Speaking at a press conference jointly hosted by Ms Loj and United States ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, she said the border with Guinea is being closely monitored and watched very closely, and that UNMIL has increased patrols along Liberia’s borders with Guinea borders. She added that the UN peace keeping force was working with local security outfits to ensure security.

She however assured that nothing unusual has been observed along the borders of the two countries, but urged community leaders to get involved in discouraging adventures into the volatile Guinea region.

Ms Loj said she was impressed that Lofa County which was occupied by three warring factions during the Liberia conflict and therefore considered an epicenter of the war, is re-emerging from war to agricultural production.

“Lofa County has made great progress. There can be no peace without development and no development without peace,” Ms Loj reminded Liberians.

Source African Press Agency

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Announcing the final results of the run-off by-election Thursday evening, National Election Commission Chairman James Fromoyan said Madam Geraldine Doe-Sheriff polled 56 percent of the votes cast, while the candidate of the ruling Unity Party, Mr. Clemenceau Blayon UIrey, got 44 percent of the total votes cast.

The CDC is the party of former soccer star George Weah.

Fromoyan said 105,800 registered voters representing 22.36 percent of the 473,900 registered voters in Montserrado County, exercised their franchise during the senatorial by-election.

Ten candidates participated in the first round of the by-election, but none of them got the required 50 plus one vote to win outright, necessitating a run-off between the two candidates with the highest votes.

The by-election was to replace Montserrado County Junior Senator Hannah Brent who passed away in August this year.

The Montserrado County hosts the Liberian capital Monrovia.

Source African Press Agency

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