Monrovia Liberia – The Forestry Development Authority says it has put in place a system that has so far enhanced the revenue generating capacity of the institution.

FDA Managing Director Mike Doyen said they have introduced electronic payment system through mobile money for the FDA fee collection.

He said the introduction of the new system has strengthened control and minimize corruption thereby leading to a massive jump in revenue collection since the turn of the year.

“What we have done so far has reduced too much ‘hand to hand’ transactions. Money collected on a daily basis is transferred to our mobile money account at MTN who then send it to our operational account at LBDI” the Forestry Development Authority Managing Director told a news conference in Paynesville on Wednesday.

According to him, in just January alone, the FDA raised 13 million Liberian dollars, about 7 million more than what was raised in December last year.

MD Doryen noted that the FDA is now positioned to generate sufficient to support its operations with the new system in place.

He further said the system is part of several innovative measures put in place by his management team to strengthen the FDA’s financial capacity in the wake of limited allotment from National Budget.

He continued “as you may be aware, we collect revenues through fees and support the national budget but allotment is slow in reaching us through the fiscal budget over the past years as a result, we have to use innovative ways to effectively run this place”.

At the same time Mr. Doryen said the collection of fees by the FDA is backed by the act establishing the entity and dismissed suggestions that FDA is usurping the functions of the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA).