-- Liberia, which produces no electricity, will seek $200 million from private investors to repair the St. Paul's hydropower dam, said Harry Nyuan, chief executive officer of the Liberia Electricity Corp.

The government can't afford to refurbish the facility and is seeking investment on a build-operate-transfer basis, Nyuan said in an interview yesterday in the capital, Monrovia.

``An assessment study of the dam has been completed by an American engineering firm and the cost of a new dam is put at $200 million dollars, but we cannot afford such huge funds at the moment,'' Nyuan said.

Liberia relies on power generators borrowed from Ghana to produce all of its electricity, most of which is used to light street lamps and public buildings such as hospitals. The west African country's electricity infrastructure was destroyed in a civil war between 1989 and 2003 in which an estimated 250,000 people died.

The St. Paul's facility, situated on the Saint Paul River, previously supplied power to Monrovia before it was damaged during the war and parts were looted.