Announcement of the First Loan to Liberia for Highway Construction and Maintenance on January 8, 1964

0 lf'JTERNATIONAL BANK FOR .,RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVEL()PME;NT 1818 H STREET. N.W .. WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360' I, i Bank Press Release'No. 64/1 Sub.ject: $3,250,GOO road loan January 8, 1964 to Liberia The World:,Ba.nk today made a loan of $3,250 ,.000 to Liberia for highway con- struction • 1' and maintenance. ., The loan, the Bro1k' s f'fa~st in Liberia, will help to finance the building of' two new roads a.nd will help pay for equipment and materiais needed for improveq maintenance over the country's entire road system. One of the i\ new roads will open up a promising area to forest a.nd farm prod~ction; the other ?. '~. will provide a more economic route from Monrovia, the capitaI ~ity, to Roberts- field, a center of rubber_ production and the~si.te of Liberia's international • ai:;rport • (I Most of Liberia's road network has been developed in the last 10 years. 1950 tb,ere were less than 300 miles of roads, mostly in poor condition, and to- In c.a.y there are nea.rlyJ.. , 700, of which about 1,200 are all-weather. At the same time, the number of motor vehicles has increased from 650 to approximately 10,000. Buses, truc~p and passenger cars operate in various parts of the country but '~ 1 ,, traffic is highly conc~ntrated in the area of Monrovia and around the rubber plan- tations and iron ore mining complexes. The development of roads has stimulated Liberia's economic growth. Only five to ten years ago it was a trek of several weeks through forests to reach produc- tion areas in,the western province, two to three hundred miles from Monrovia; reaching the same areas today is only a 6 to8-hour drive. Outlying districts now provide rice, palm oil, fruits and vegetables to Monrovia and other popula- ,. tion. centers, and the production of rubber, cocoa, coffee and other cash crops u .. 0 - 2 ... by indind.t.ial farmers bAs increased considerably. AB a result, wo:rkers in plan- ~. ta...~ions' towns and mining districts 'are better fed and cultivators are being S'4,pplied With simpl~ manufactured goods they never had before;. The roa.d network is still small, however, for the country's size and. popu- lation, and the road construction and,, maintenance projects being assisted by the Bank loan are important next steps in the' development of the road system. The 48-mile road from Kleon .the Bomi Hills main road to Pujehun in the extreme west of' Liberia will initially be an access route between Monrovia and a planned 0 logging and sawmill operation in vi~gin forests. The logging area., consisting ,, of 35,000 acres in tropical hardwood forests, has si~able stands of mahogany and other exotic woods suitable for export and of ordinary woods in wide use as local construction lumber. The Governmen.t owns the forest lands and is ma.king arrange-. ments for the development of the timber resources or the entire tract. Ultimately, the road should help to promote agricultural as well as timber development, since the alluvial soils of the Pujehun area are suitable for the • cultivation of rice, oil palm, vegetables and fruits. The road would also bring the entire region around Pujehun within economic reach of the iron ore mining complexes a.t Bomi Hills and Mano River and of ··the growing market at Monrovia. The Govern~ent intends to draw up a program for the development of agriculture in the area to be o(pened up by the new road. The second road, to be built between Schiefelin and.Roberts£ield, is the last, 14-mile section of a 35-mile road 'Which will replace a roundabout 52-mile route from Monrovia to Liberia's internationai airport. Included in the work is ,, the construction of .;a 262-foot span bridge and the asphalting of 13 miles of • existing roads. Besides being the site of Liberia's international airport, I) - 3 - Robertsf1eld,1s an important economic region: the Firestone ru~ber planta~ion is located ther~; it employs 35,000 and 'houses within its compounds some 150,000 (, ,people. The shorter route vS·n1 not only reduce vehicle operating costs but with a sllorter road trip fewer trucks and buses will be required. Part of the vehicle fleet now opera.ting between Monrovia and Robertsfield could therefore be diverted i) to serve developmental needs elsewhere in Liberia. /) h ·. Many of Liq1eria' s existing roads ?,re in poor cq ldition, not only becaus<=! of (/ (J' inst:.:fficiencies of the l!'.laintenance organization and prdcedures but also .because of 0 lack of adequate equipment and spare parts. The road maintenance and repair shop facilities to be financed by the Bank loan are regarded as the minimum needed.. to restore the main trunk roads and to keep them operable thereafter~ The Department of Pu°!)lic Works and. Utilities will be responsible for e.x:ecution of the projects.. The Department's operations are now being st-udiea. "'t:!:,r ~.. firm of • , engineering consultants retained under . a grant from the United States Agency for International Development. The consultants will make recommendations for the im- provement of the Department's operations, particularly its organization and pro- cedures for road construction and maintenance. The total cos·t of the road construction and maintenance projects is estimated at $4.5 millio~. The Bank loan will meet the external financial requirements, and the Republic of Liberia will cover the remaining costs from its O'Wn ~esources. The new roads will be constructed by pre-qualified contractors chosen after interna- tional competitive bidding; "the maintenance equipment will be ordered after inter- national bidding. The Bank loan is for a term of 18 years a.nd bears int;erest at the rate of ~% per annum, including the 1% commission which is allocated to the Bank's Special Re- • serve. \ Because of Liberia's difficult financial positio11.''over the next few years, and the recent action of other foreign creditors ~n accepting a rearrangement of Liberia's external debt, the Bank has agreed to defer the ~~mmencement of amortiza- tion on its loan until June 1972. l) / / / S I E R R A LEO.NE ' ...,..., ,_,. j / ./ ,:, MANO RIVER / '/,, . (National Iron Ore Colo / ..,-/· / Bendojo ,· ,, 0 ) ,? /·-:,,:' • J' ~7 I ujehun 11 II S~wilo tJ RaDerts Port V O R Y C O A S T ..... ',...tt. ·~....... ..... LIBERIA '·,. Roads \) 0 Hord surfaced (bituminous) ~ Loose.surfneed (lalerile) ~ Under conslruction Under survey or design Unprogrammcd Included in proposed Banlt project Ra!lwdy ___ .,. __ ...., Railway under construction -0 c:J () Harbors Airfields Airs I rips Jr.on mine~ 10 20 30 40 50 MIies APRIL 1963 1BRD-1133R