Liberia: Government Retains ArcelorMittal Liberia as Operator of Yekepa-Buchanan Railway After Months of Negotiations

Monrovia, May 5 -- After months of negotiations, the Government of Liberia has decided to retain ArcelorMittal Liberia (AML) as the operator of the Yekepa-Buchanan railway.

By Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [e-mail]

The decision, announced by the Inter-Ministerial Concessions Committee (IMCC), followed extensive deliberations concerning multi-user access and operational responsibility for the 243-kilometer rail line. The railway, originally constructed and operated by the Liberian-American-Swedish Mining Company (LAMCO) before the Liberian civil war, was inherited by ArcelorMittal under its 2005 Mineral Development Agreement (MDA) with the Government of Liberia.

Since then, ArcelorMittal has invested over US$8...