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Government. The companies are presented in Annex 20. Most of
them are Liberian owned. Here also the list of companies does
not claim to be exhaustive, which is due to the chaotic
administration of these companies. It is important to note that
as of December 1977 none of the concession agreements of these
companies were revoked by the Liberian Government - according to
the files consulted in the Concessions Secretariat.
An Example Of The Complexity Of The Forestry Sector
The complex character of the forestry sector added to the
problems caused by the lack of data makes an analysis of this
sector very difficult. This section deals with a number of
logging companies, assigned companies and management firms, their
relations, and the clashes between them, which, although perhaps
not representative of the entire forestry sector, still provides a
clear example of what was in reality a chaotic state of affairs
as to logging operations and concession policy in Liberia in the
197O's. All information presented here is based on the archives
of the Concessions Secretariat.
In 1973 the MACARS Timber Corporation was granted a concession
area of 35,000 acres in Grand Gedeh County- On May 15, 1974 the
company acquired additional option areas (in the same county)
which with an Addendum to the concession agreement were added to
the concession area on June 22, 1976. At present the company
holds 273,600 acres under this agreement with the Government.
What is remarkable about it is that this concession agreement,
concluded between the well-known Sherman family and the Liberian
Government, contained clauses which were more favourable than
those of the Model Timber Concession Agreement on which the
agreement was nevertheless based.
A management contract was concluded with the National Industrial
Forestry Corporation (NIFCO) in 1973- This company had been
created on July 31, 1973 to manage the Yah River Logging
Corporation Concession. Subscribers to NIFCO were "1'Enterprise
Forestiere & de Transport" (from Ivory Coast), 50?; Andre Fayes
Sahyoun (25?), Lucie Tolbert (15?) and Toye Bernard (10?).
Sahyoun was a Lebanese businessman engaged in the timber
business in Ivory Coast for over 30 years before he came to
Liberia. He was President and General Manager of NIFCO. (In 1975
The Liberia Company also signed a management agreement with
NIFCO) (See Chapter 4).
Subsequently NIFCO wanted to assign its management•contract with
MACARS to the Liberian Industrial Timber Enterprises (L.I.T.E.),
which company was created on December 3, 1973 and which operated
the MATRO Logging Company Concession of Harrison Grigsby, Lloyd
Grigsby and Edwina Greene. The principal shareholders of NIFCO