Great job!Very Great Job! The Southeastern region of Liberia indead needs some development of such magnitude, in order to eleviate poverty,and increase population. So many people can not go back home(to the south East) because, there is nothing to do there. Accept for Maryland, the SouthEastern region have not had any kind of job boom in the Nation's History. I hope this will encourage a large exudus from crumb Monrovia, to be involve in Construction, Agriculture, Bussiness, Mining and Education. And also, improving the Lives of Tens of Thousands.

If the $3 million is a one time payment to the three counties, it amounts to $40,000 annually to each of the three counties over the twenty-five(25) years period. This amount is too meager to help create strutural economic opportunties in those counties that are not directly dependent on the mining operations. Therefore, the senate needs to pay close attention to this provision of the agreement. I will suggest $3 million a year for the life of the contract. Let me be the first to admit the figure is not based on any numbers contained in the conttract such as projected annual gross revenue, costs,profits, etc. to the company. However, it is my hope that the senate committe examining this agreement will utilize this information if available, in deriving a figure that balances the interests of both parties (company & counties).

From the article, the author stated, “Under the agreement, Putu Mining Company will construct schools, hospitals and modern housing facilities for its employees and their dependents. He said the company will also provide US$3m to three counties as social benefit to the communities. The counties to be benefited include Grand Gedeh, River Gee and Sinoe Counties.”…………………

The above statement regarding the US$3 million contribution toward the social benefit fund of three counties does not provide detail information to allow for a critical analysis of the Putu Mining agreement. The statement doesn’t say whether the amount is a one shot only payment or an annual contribution. However, if we are to go by the ArcelorMittal deal which provides an annual contribution to benefit local communities in the counties of which the company operates, then one may deduce that as a (FDI) policy of the Liberian government, the Putu payment of US$3 million is an annual contribution to the three counties. However, beyond this point, it would be myopic to view the benefits of the Putu deal from only looking at the stated amount of US$3 million contribution toward the social benefit fund.

Given the glaring infrastructural deficiencies in the Southeastern Region of Liberia, any major multinational investor interested in doing business would be expected to take on a sizeable initial exposure. As such, the economic cost benefit of a deal will comprise the construction of facilities such as schools, hospitals, housing, telecommunications, roads, electricity, clean water, and sanitation etc. However, a departure from the old ways of doing business would be if the local officials can develop innovative partnerships with foreign companies so that the benefits to the local communities are expanded through subcontracting and harnessing business-community relationships. This is why Superintendents and other county officials should be elected so that they can be compelled to think of innovative ways to bring about development to the political subdivisions and not entirely rely on the central government for every source of revenue.

In the long-term, it would be wise that the central government, lawmakers, local officials, and the citizens of these localities, develop complementary industries to diversify employment opportunities. We need to avoid what happened to Tubmanburg/Bomi Hills after LMC closed or the town of Yekeba after LAMCO was compelled to fold at the end of the civil war. These local communities were left with facilities that they lacked the capacity to maintain and had no sizeable secondary industries that could take over through acquisitions.

Lastly, it would be unrealistic to rely on the one foreign company to provide the total financing in the social benefit fund of all three counties. Perhaps as a starter, the Putu Mines may be the largest single contributor to the fund, but all other multinationals should also be making contractual contributions annually toward the social benefit fund in the communities of which they operate. Moreover, in my view, these contributions should be variable based on a fixed percentage of the return on investment or profits accrued annually by each multinational investor.

hahahahahha $3,000 000USD for three counties in southeastern region for the period of 25yrs? this is just another big joke and an insult to the people of the three counties looking at the worst and dangerious conditions facing the 5 counties and its people.howeven,iam apealing to the both branches of the house of parliament to make sure that the 5 counties benefit massively from this one time opportunity since Ellen's government came to power,this part of liberia is not reconised by the regime of the day but as we all know GOD has never forgot his children so this is the only opportunity for the whole of southeastern region to be benefited and develop.am talikjng about sinoe,grand gedeh,grand kru,maryland and river g.we are one people and this mountain belonged to the whole region and not only few counties as the agreement mentioned.we want a million dollar for each county local development anually until the 25yrs contract is over.mount putu is our gift from GOD and it is intended to bless the whole of the southeastern region so it must be or else we will see niger delta resistance in liberia which we dont wish for.