AIRSIDE SAFETY WORKS - ROBERTS AIRPORT MONROVIA

The project concerns the urgent rehabilitation of the runway at Roberts International Airport in Monrovia, Liberia, which is in very poor condition and presents a real and ongoing safety risk to aircraft. It also includes improvements to the pavement drainage system, the construction of Runway End Safety Areas (RESAs), the replacement of the runway lighting and the provision of various items of operational and safety related airport equipment. The project will result in a much improved level of compliance with civil aviation international safety standards.

Roberts International Airport is a critical transport node for international access to Liberia. Without the project the airport would soon have to be closed, forcing international traffic to fly first to Freetown in Sierra Leone or Abidjan in the Ivory Coast and then either to drive to Liberia or take a connecting regional flight to Spriggs Payne Airport, a small domestic airport located close to Monrovia city centre. This would have a very significant impact on the development of the Liberian economy and on the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), which currently numbers about 9,000 personnel plus support and logistics equipment.

All the works required by the project are within the existing airport boundary and no significant environmental impacts are expected. Nonetheless, Liberian environmental law requires a full Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for projects of this type and it is understood that the ESIA will include the emergency airside works being financed under this project as part of the assessment of the impacts of the wider development program. This will be reviewed further during the project appraisal.

The Bank will require the promoter to ensure that implementation of the project will be done in accordance with the Bank's Guide to Procurement.