Buchanan, Grand Bassa County – ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML) has demonstrated its dedication to enhancing community well-being and public health by delivering a number of water and sanitation facilities to the people living in its fence-line settlements in Buchanan.
On the outskirts of Buchanan, in the Central Airfield Community close to AML’s airfield, the dedication was held on Wednesday, August 20, 2025.
AML started the Buchanan Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) initiative in 2024 with the goal of addressing the water and sanitation issues that the communities in the company’s concession area confront.
In addition to encouraging long-term environmental and public health improvements, it seeks to guarantee sustainable access to safe sanitation facilities and clean drinking water.
Residents of Lemuel Town, Airfield Town, Family Town, Norway Town, and Sayou Town received five newly built hand pumps and five contemporary public restrooms from AML during the ceremony.
AML collaborated with community leaders to determine the best places for hand pumps as part of the larger WASH intervention, hired reliable companies to install them, and provided residents with training on how to safely store water and maintain the facilities.
In order to alleviate the immediate burden of obtaining safe water, the business also gave 10,567 sachets of filtered mineral water to households during construction. The Buchanan WASH project has a total investment of US$108,709.50.
Marcus Wleh, Head of Sustainability and External Relations at AML, stated during the handover that the projects demonstrate a new and more inclusive method of community development.
In order for the initiatives to endure longer and keep helping those in greatest need, Wleh clarified, “the idea is for communities to manage the projects in a sustainable way.”
“Committees should be established in the communities to oversee these initiatives responsibly. The communities directly requested these measures, and ArcelorMittal is always available to assist its host communities,” he stated.
Speaking on behalf of the recipients, Town Chief Lawrence Sumo expressed gratitude to ArcelorMittal Liberia for the program.”We appreciate ArcelorMittal Liberia taking care of this for us. We’re at a loss for words, but we’re grateful to ArcelorMittal for helping us out,” he said.
AML said that in addition to the hand pumps and restrooms, it is now building ten water tanks, each of which can provide up to 500 people with clean drinking water every day.
These tanks are anticipated to be dedicated in the upcoming weeks and are now being constructed throughout the counties of Grand Bassa, Bong, and Nimba. The Buchanan sewage mitigation projects highlight ArcelorMittal Liberia’s increasing investment in environmentally friendly, sustainable solutions that directly benefit the people in its service areas while addressing urgent health and environmental issues.
