The_Open_Door_deel1

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However, when the war was over, and the U.S. Army no longer
needed Robertsfield, the North American engineers went back home,
after having built some 86 (out of 100) miles. The remaining 14
miles were completed with U.S. funds by the Liberia Construction
Company, another Firestone subsidiary. In November 1947 the road
was completed and for the first time in its history Liberia's
capital was connected with the neighbouring country of French
Guinea by means of a road which ran across the central part of
the country (13). One century after the founding of the Republic
an easy penetration of the interior of the country finally became
possible. The economic and political impact of this 193 mile
road was extremely important and even 30 years later the trunk
road Monrovia - Sanniquellie was the basis of the country's
entire road network.
One year later the construction of the $ 19.5 million breakwater
port of Monrovia, financed by the U.S. Government, was completed.
Three years later, in 1951, the nation's first railroad finally
became a reality. This $ 10 million railroad connected the iron
ore mine in Bomi Hills, exploited by L.M.C., with the Free Port
of Monrovia, a distance of some 42 miles.
When in the same year President Tubman concluded his first term
of office the considerable success in the area of transportation
had booste.d ,his prestige enormously. This no doubt ensured him of
the supporir of his fellow-partisans of the True Whig Party, and
this in turn resulted in his being re-elected President for
another term of four years, though not without being challenged
by tribal opponents to his regime (14)•
The boom of the early 1950's together with the Korea crisis
resulted in high rubber and iron ore prices. With the'completion
of the railroad in 1951 the production and export of iron ore
had started. Accordingly, domestic revenues soared so that more
funds became available for the infrastructural network and the
recurrent costs entailed (see Chapter 10). Expenditure data
before the 196O's, if existing at all, are difficult to find in
Liberia, but available data concerning budgetary appropriations
indicate that the Government was aware of the necessity to
improve its transportation network as quickly as possible. In
the early days of the Tubman Administration budgetary
appropriations for the Department of Public Works and Utilities
had amounted to a mere | 13,000 (15). In 1951 they had increased
to the still modest amount of f 403,000. Five years later
budgetary appropriations had sky-rocketed to $ 1.6 million (16).
However, despite this trend towards increased budgetary
appropriations the Government was not able to finance
expenditures other than the current ones in the public works
sector. This is explained by the way the Public Works Department
was administered, together with the political priorities of the
central Government. As a result, investments in the
transportation sector were usually financed with foreign loans.
This dependency on foreign aid was enhanced by the lack of
trained personnel in the Department of Public Works and
Utilities.
In the early 196O's e.g. the Liberian Government did not know