*Photo of construction workers on Flickr by Tweefur

By Leroy M. Sonpon, III

When construction works are completed on the new United States Embassy in Monrovia in 2012, it will be the tallest diplomatic building in Liberia, construction workers told journalists yesterday.

At a news conference held at the US Embassy at Mamba Point, project manager Mike Veal gave highlights on the project since US officials and their Liberian counterparts broke ground for the construction of the Embassy last June. He said the new Embassy will be a six-story chancery with state-of-the-art equipment.

Currently, the construction work is at its foundation stage. There will eventually be a chancery, a support annex, a warehouse, a general services annex, marine security guard quarters and three compound access control facilities, Mr. Veal explained. The new Embassy will provide a safe, secure and functional facility for 619 employees.

According to Veal, there are 78 repatriated Liberians working on the project. The project’s active workforce at this time is 442 people, including Liberians who make up 93% of the workforce along with 31 non-Liberians.

As activities begin to increase on the site the number of Liberian workers will expand. It is expected that at the peak of construction activities, the company and its subcontractors may employ between 600 and 700 Liberian workers.

According to Veal, because of the specialized nature of the work of building the Embassy, and the extremely tight time schedule, the contractor, B.L. Harbert, is unable to take a long time to train for key positions. Therefore, the company will bring in key skilled supervisory staff from other embassy construction sites from around the world in order to complete the work on schedule.

Nearly a year ago in February 2009, the US State Department announced the award of the contract to the B.L. Harbert International, LLC of Birmingham, Alabama, for the construction of the new Embassy compound.