New Kru Town

New Kru Town
Borough
New Kru Town Location in Liberia
Coordinates: 6°22′24″N 10°47′34″W
Country	Liberia
County	Montserrado County
District	Greater Monrovia
Government
• Governor	Robert B. Teah[1]
Area [2]
• Total	5.13 km^2 (1.98 sq mi)
Population  (2014[3])
• Total	84,399
• Density	16,000/km^2 (43,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)

New Kru Town is a northwestern coastal suburb of Monrovia, Liberia.

Overview

New Kru Town is a northwestern coastal suburb of Monrovia, located on the north end of Bushrod Island. It is the only borough in Liberia.[4]

The town grew as a planned "transplant" town of Old Kru Town after World War II when "Old Kru Town was evacuated for the development of a new breakwater for the new port with assistance from the Liberian government".[5] Being located where the Saint Paul River estuary meets the Atlantic Ocean, sea-fishing is an important source of income.[6]

A slum area, it has been subject to ethnic tensions.[7] Squatted houses are built in precarious zones and in 2013, 200 homes were washed away by a high tide.[8] In 2019 President George Weah appointed Tarpeh D. Carter as governor of New Kru Town, replacing Alice Weah.[9] New Kru Town constitutes the Montserrado-16 electoral district.[3]

Landmarks

An "imposing" church was built in New Kru Town in about 1975 by American missionaries.[10] It also contains the Redemption Hospital and the multi-million dollar D. Tweh Memorial High School, "originally named in honor of Tolbert before the 1980 coup".[11] An avenue, Botoe Avenue, is named after Thomas Nimene Botoe.

Demographics

New Kru Town within the Greater Monrovia District

New Kru Town (or Zone Z100) is divided into 14 communities;

Community	Inhabitants (2014 est.)	No. of households (2014 est.)
Bong Mines Bridge	5,573	1,359
Central New Kru Town	5,880	1,434
Crab Hole	7,532	1,837
Duala Market	6,405	1,562
Duala Mombo Town-East	8,752	2,135
Fundaye	4,259	1,039
Lagoon East	5,405	1,318
Lagoon West	5,575	1,360
Monboe Town West	3,475	848
Nyuan Town	6,692	1,632
Point Four	7,317	1,785
Popo Beach A	5,938	1,448
Popo Beach B	2,913	710
Tweh Farm	8,683	2,118
Total:	84,399	20,585

[12][3]

References

1. New Dawn Liberia. Governor Teah takes oath of office
2. JICA. THE MASTER PLAN STUDY ON URBAN FACILITIES RESTORATION AND IMPROVEMENT IN MONROVIA IN THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA
3. National Electoral Commission. "Montserrado County Electoral District No.16 2017"
4. "Liberia Housing Profile" (PDF). United Nations Human Settlements Programme. 2014. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
5. Sawyer, Amos (1992). The emergence of autocracy in Liberia: tragedy and challenge. Institute for Contemporary Studies. ISBN 978-1-55815-164-2. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
   - Obudho, Robert A.; Mhlanga, Constance C. (1988). Slum and squatter settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa: toward a planning strategy. Praeger. ISBN 978-0-275-92309-9. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
6. United States. Foreign Broadcast Information Service (1982). Sub-Saharan Africa report. Foreign Broadcast Information Service. pp. 59–60. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
7. Dolo, Emmanuel (31 October 2007). Ethnic Tensions in Liberia's National Identity Crisis: Problems and Possibilities. Africana Homestead Legacy Pb. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-9770904-1-9. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
8. Tipple, Graham (2014). Liberia: Housing profile (PDF). Nairobi, Kenya: UN-HABITAT. ISBN 978-92-1-132626-0.
9. Executive Mansion. "New Kru Town Gets New Governor"
10. Gifford, Paul (16 May 2002). Christianity and Politics in Doe's Liberia. Cambridge University Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-521-52010-2. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
11. Maps (Map). Google Maps.
    - Sherman, Frank (31 January 2010). Liberia: The Land, Its People, History and Culture. Godfrey Mwakikagile. p. 52. ISBN 978-9987-16-025-9. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
12. Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services. "Population 2008, 2014 by County, District, Clan and Households, Liberia" Archived 2020-07-13 at the Wayback Machine