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how many people were employed in its Public Works and Utilities
Department. Official estimates varied between 1,000 and 1,700.
The Department's administration was chaotic, which resulted in
the mismanagement of public funds, facilitated embezzlement, and
created a complete anarchy in the staffing and payment of
personnel. In 1961, an Official Commission On Government
Operations, "SCOGO 1 ^ reported that salaries for the same type of
work varied up to 500$, and it concluded that the Department was
overstaffed by non-technical and non-professional personnel (17).
The report of the commission further stated that it was
impossible to determine from the Department's records how much
equipment the Government owned, or how much it spent on its
purchase and operation (18). In fact, hardly any administration
existed within the Department. The chaotic situation within the
Department was skillfully exploited by those who were
responsible for its proper functioning. The commission accused
them of having their private cars repaired by the Department's
services while official vehicles stood idle for lack of service
(19).
The Liberian transportation facilities fall into four categories
with the following main characteristic(s):
(1) Road Transport - which is by far the most important form of
transport for the Liberian people;
(2) Railroad Transport - which is virtually exclusively used by
the "enclave" or concession sector;
(3) Water Transport - which is used extensively by the same
"enclave" sector but to a lesser degree than "Railroad
Transport"; and
(4) Air Transport - which is relatively unimportant though
Liberia is served by a large number of international
airlines. Most passengers, however, are in transit.
Road Transport
Liberia's roads can be classified as follows: (i) Primary roads,
(ii) Secondary roads, and (iii) Feeder roads, also called farmto-market
roads, county roads, or rural roads.
Whereas there were only about 200 miles of public highway at the
end of World War II, not a single mile being paved, in 1961 there
were 1,163 miles of which:
- 129 miles paved road
- 741 miles surfaced, and
- 293 miles unimproved (20)
Seventeen years later, in 1978, Liberia had 4.644 miles of public
roads of which:
- 253 miles paved road
- 949 miles laterite (all weather) primary road, and
- 3,442 miles of secondary and feeder roads of which
964 miles of laterite (all weather) roads and 2,478
miles of roads (feeder roads) only practicable
during the dry season (21).