Monrovia, Liberia – An in depth investigation has uncovered a troubling sample of behind-the-scenes maneuvering by Ivanhoe Liberia, previously Excessive Energy Exploration (HPX), to affect Liberia’s evolving railway governance framework in ways in which might severely compromise nationwide curiosity and funding integrity.
In line with a number of sources with entry to inside authorities discussions, Ivanhoe has been lobbying senior authorities officers, notably these inside the President’s interior circle together with Minister of State Sylvester Grisby, to make sure that the corporate good points oblique management of the important Yekepa to Buchanan railway. Somewhat than function the rail immediately, Ivanhoe is alleged to be positioning international corporations of its selecting to imagine operatorship beneath the guise of a government-sanctioned worldwide tender.
In the midst of this technique is the proposed framework being developed by the Nationwide Rail Authority (NRA), which might regulate rail utilization, implement equitable entry, and gather person charges immediately on behalf of the Liberian authorities. Publicly, Ivanhoe has argued that this mannequin would guarantee a multi-user system.
Nevertheless, investigations point out that the corporate’s actual goal is handy over rail management to certainly one of two corporations it has already lined up for the function: Thelo DB of South Africa and the Railroad Growth Company (RDC) of america.
Each corporations, sources verify, are intently being supported by HPX’s government community and have been quietly groomed to take over as rail operators. Ought to both of them win the bid, Ivanhoe is anticipated to obtain preferential entry to the rail hall with out having invested a single greenback in constructing, repairing, or increasing the infrastructure.
This comes regardless of Ivanhoe’s intention to move ore from Guinea by means of Liberia, a transfer Guinea has not formally accredited. The implications of this technique are stark. Liberia’s most strategic mining and logistics asset might find yourself beneath the efficient management of a international firm that has made no monetary or developmental dedication to the nation.
This covert maneuvering additionally undermines the prevailing operator, ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML), which has invested greater than $800 million in Liberia’s mining and transport infrastructure. AML’s user-operator standing, secured beneath its Mineral Growth Settlement (MDA), has enabled the corporate to handle and improve the rail and port techniques for gratis to the Liberian state. But Ivanhoe continues to reject AML’s function, portraying it as monopolistic whereas selling a supposedly fairer multi-user association that masks its personal plan to dominate rail logistics by proxy.
The hazards of ceding rail operatorship to a international entity chosen by means of political affect reasonably than public curiosity are profound. For one, Liberia’s standing as an funding vacation spot depends upon the federal government’s capacity to implement contracts and deal with all gamers equitably. Changing a confirmed operator with a politically favored one dangers damaging this credibility. Furthermore, neither Thelo DB nor RDC has ever invested in Liberia’s railway infrastructure. With out monetary dedication or operational historical past, their capability or motivation to keep up and develop the hall stays unsure, probably threatening the performance of a crucial nationwide asset.
Thelo DB, based mostly in Johannesburg, is a railway logistics agency with advisory expertise in tasks like Ghana’s $3.2 billion Western Railway redevelopment. The corporate is a three way partnership with Deutsche Bahn’s engineering arm however has no direct funding document in Liberia. RDC, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, operates short-line railroads in North and South America and has beforehand managed providers in elements of Europe. Whereas it has expressed curiosity in African growth, RDC equally lacks a historical past of funding in Liberia or West African transport techniques.
In the meantime, Ivanhoe itself has engaged in rail tasks within the Democratic Republic of Congo, the place its dad or mum firm signed an settlement to rebuild a 34-kilometer spur line to attach the Kipushi Mine to the nationwide railway. It additionally signed a memorandum of understanding to export copper focus by way of Angola’s Lobito Atlantic Hall. These examples present Ivanhoe’s willingness to have interaction in rail growth, simply not in Liberia.
Including to the complexity is Ivanhoe’s extremely publicized however stalled Liberty Hall mission in Liberia. In early 2024, whereas nonetheless branded as HPX, the corporate unveiled a $5 billion plan in partnership with the Authorities of Liberia and Guma Africa Group. The Liberty Hall was billed as a transformative infrastructure initiative connecting Guinea’s Nimba area to a proposed deep-water port in Didia, Liberia. It promised a heavy-duty railway, a contemporary port, upgraded roads, cross-border hydropower growth, and fiber-optic infrastructure to drive West Africa’s industrialization.
Regardless of the grand announcement, there was little proof of progress. No feasibility examine, no environmental evaluation, no building. Guma Africa, a key accomplice within the announcement, has been silent. Liberians are left questioning whether or not the Liberty Hall was a severe proposal or just a PR technique to strain the federal government into handing Ivanhoe management over nationwide infrastructure.
With no actual funding on the bottom, no readability on financing, and no endorsement from Guinea, Ivanhoe’s ambitions in Liberia seem much less about constructing and extra about buying present belongings by means of political maneuvering. As worldwide observers and Liberian stakeholders increase purple flags, the federal government faces a crucial choice: uphold the rule of regulation and defend nationwide pursuits or permit international actors to compromise the nation’s mining future beneath the false banner of honest entry.
If Ivanhoe’s lobbying succeeds, Liberia may very well be surrendering the spine of its financial infrastructure to a proxy operator, one which bears no monetary burden, no developmental duty, and no obligation to serve the Liberian individuals.
