By Ben TC Brooks
RIVER GEE – The Government of Liberia (GoL) through its Central Bank, is poised to inaugurate a regional cash hub currently close to completion in the country’s southern River Gee County, the projects contracting supervisor, Daniel Forya, has disclosed.
Services of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) will be enhanced and more inclusive, following the dedication of the regional cash hub, in Fish Town, River Gee County.
The hub, the second of a CBL flagship project, when inaugurated will provide cash management services to commercial bank branches in the country’s southeastern region including River Gee, Grand Gedeh, Maryland, Grand Kru, and Sinoe Counties.
This development is expected to improve the efficiency and inclusivity of financial services in Liberia, particularly in rural areas.
The regional cash hub when completed and dedicated will also facilitate the provision of services including revenue collection and salary payment by the GoL, its ministries, and agencies.
The hub contains residential facilities for staff and, banking hall for handling liquidity requests of commercial banks and other regulated financial institutions.
The dedicatory ceremony of the facility which is expected to be performed by President Joseph N. Boakai, is expected during the dry season, Rural Reporters News network (RRNN) has been told.
An array of dignitaries including foreign and local guests are poised to attend the dedicatory ceremony which will also be graced by Cabinet members, both chairs on the Banking and Finance Committees of the House of Representatives and the Liberian Senate, the President of the Liberia Bankers Association, international partners, county officials, among others.
It can be recalled that in January of 2023, under the administration of ex-President George Weah, former Deputy Governor for Operations at CBL, Madam Nyemadi Pearson led groundbreaking efforts for the construction of the country’s second regional cash hub in Fish Town, River Gee County.
The selection of Fish Town for the project was predicated upon its central location in the region, making it accessible to all five counties in the southeastern region of the country, Pearson disclosed at the time.
Under the CBL’s financial services decentralization plan, the Fish Town facility is one of four facilities earmarked for the construction of a regional cash hub across Liberia.
Other areas designated for the construction of the cash hub include Voinjama, Lofa County; and the now fully functioning Gbarnga Cash Hub, in the central Liberia region of Bong County.
The construction of regional hubs across the country will lessen the cash transportation burdens of commercial banks as well as attract the expansion of bank branches in leeward counties for the provision of adequate and efficient banking services, according to CBL authorities.
CBL authorities added that other investments, such as petrol stations, department stores, and merchants, will have easy access to their funds at commercial banks due to the proximity of bank branches to these hubs.
Meanwhile, the CBL Regional Cash Hub construction contract was awarded to the Beeta Group of Management Incorporated, a construction firm believed to be a Lebanese-owned company operating in Liberia.
On 10 December 2021, the CBL dedicated its first regional Cash Hub in Gbarnga, Bong County. The bank’s authorities disclosed that the project, which serves as a blueprint for subsequent hubs to be constructed in other parts of the country, aims to modernize financial centers and enhance the CBL’s services.
Key features of the Gbarnga Cash Hub include a banking hall for handling liquidity requests of commercial banks and other regulated financial institutions in rural areas, enhancing the CBL’s cash distribution capability, and the National Payment System infrastructure.
Edited by Olando Testimony Zeongar
