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or used"by the producer for his own consumption. Twelve companies
accounted for this timber production but it is important to note
here that this number included two mining concessions and one
foreign rubber company. The last-mentioned three companies
produced 19-5 per cent of all timber produced in that year and
provided 28,2 per cent of the supply of timber products on the
domestic market. The country's most important producer of logs
and lumber was the MIM Timber Company, producing 29-1 per cent
of the total. This company had been granted a timber concession
in an area of 13,288 acres in the Eastern Province in 1962.
Consequently four companies accounted for nearly half of the
country's timber production. The companies individual
performances are presented in Table 21. It is worth mentioning
that one company, the Maryland Logging Company, exported its
entire production unprocessed. This company produced 64.1? of
the timber exports of that fiscal year.
Important developments in 1967 caused a significant increase in
logging activities. In 1967 a road was opened which linked
Tchien (= Zwedru) in the then called Grand Gedeh County (former
Eastern Province) with the port of Greenville (a distance of
105 miles). This road cut through untouched national forest rich
in timber. Thus logging operations for export purposes were made
an ^easy and attractive (profitable) activity. Also an agreement
was' reached? with the LAMCO J.V. which permitted the use of the
LAMCO buil.t railroad. This 350 miles railroad linked the
Northern Part of Nimba County with the port of Buchanan also
constructed by LAMCO, opening up a vast area covered with
tropical forests. As a result the production of timber rose from
18.3 million bd.ft. in 1966/67 to nearly 100 million bd.ft. in
1971/72 (see Table 20). The average annual timber production
during these years was 64 million bd.ft (as compared to a yearly
average of only 17.8 million bd.ft. in the 1961/62 - 1966/67
period). The number of concession companies conducting logging
operations at the end of 1972 was reported to be 17 (37).
Failing administration capacity and performance during the
Tolbert Administration
Subsequent events during the 19 70's showed that in 1972 Liberia
had reached its limit in the efficient administration and
monitoring of these companies. The country's administration
could no longer cope with the increase of logging activities in
general. In particular, it ceased to control and supervise all
of the logging companies operating in the country - although
this is not meant to suggest that it effectively performed these
functions earlier. The insufficient and under qualified staffing
of the Services which were directly involved in these monitoring
functions was already mentioned above. The interest which high
ranking government officials and people of the political elite