Sub-Saharan Africa » Liberia
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Monrovia Metro Matrix Strategic Blue Loop |
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| The explosive growth of Monrovia, close to 10% annual, requires a metropolitan planning and management policy. The uncontrolled informal sector and the scarcity of public resources make the challenge even more difficult.
As a Master Plan would not be possible to enforce, the metropolitan planning approach of Monrovia should be a more flexible Strategic Plan that would set priorities and leave to management capacity of the administration to enforce as possibilities allow those policies in the right direction. This D4D Document provides the ‘Metropolitan-Plus’ vision on how to integrate the national infrastructures with the metropolitan and urban ones. An integrated set of win-win potential. Sooner or later (let’s hope sooner) Liberia and Monrovia will have to undertake this task. Here is the metropolitan strategy that needs implementation. |
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Liberia Metro Matrix National structure |
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| Liberia is a small country, just 4 million inhabitants, with limited resources and a shrunk GDP (400 USD/capita) as result of a terrible civil conflict.
The structure of the country is very clear: A rectangular shape with a linear cost along the longer side with the rivers perpendicular to it penetrating deep into the territory. The main infrastructures running along the coast and the secondary ones along the river basins need to be completed with transversal ones (along the inland border and half way to the coast) to complete the national network. The connection of the two rail systems, disconnected to now as only to the service of the extractive activities, would have a multiplier effect: - It would create a national system, providing passenger as well as freight service. - It will connect all the main intermodal infrastructures of the country (Monrovia + Buchanan ports and the Airport) - It will vertebrate and articulate the Metropolis of Monrovia completing the north branch of the Blue Loop. The challenge is not to understand and assume this national structure. The difficulty is the Social and Economic context. To the lack of financial resources and a stagnating economy we must add the scarce human and social resources to implement them. |
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