AYV News, October 24, 2023
Paramount Chief Sorie Bomboli Kanu of Koya chiefdom hailing ARISE IIP
In addition to transferring the rail to a third party, the Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms Limited (ARISE IIP) investments in Sierra Leone means more revenue for the central government and land owners.
Arise will pay $1.1 million annually in addition to a 10% profit on total export. While the Pepel Rail and Port Expansion project will be their first entry into Sierra Leone, they have a portfolio that spans West and Central Africa.
In Sierra Leone, there have been instances where landowners have been deprived of fair compensation and excluded from the consultation before signing FDI contracts.
It worthy to note that recently, the Government of Sierra Leone settled the outstanding surface rent on the Tonkolili concession. It had gone unpaid for two years.
The accumulated rent paid to the five chiefdoms was $40,000.
They have built and operated Gabon’s Special Economic Zone (GSEZ) for forestry, and Togo’s PIA, a vertically integrated industrial zone for agriculture, mining, and textile.
In Benin, they’ve invested $1.5 billion in the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ), a PPP with the government of Benin to promote investments in textiles, agriculture, and oil.
With existing agreements to develop industrial zones with the governments of Tchad, Nigeria, Congo, and Rwanda.
ARISE IIP will pay more surface land rent than their predecessors to the five chiefdoms impacted by the rail and port.
A $476 million investment into Sierra Leone’s iron-ore-rich Northern Province offers new hope that rural communities will reap the rewards of the region’s considerable mineral deposits.
Sierra Leone has always faced the challenge of striking a win-win-win deal where investors, local communities and the central government profit.
However, under the new deal, ARISE IIP will operate and expand the 200km Pepel Rail and Port, which transfers iron ore from remote areas to the sea for export.
In September 2022, Sierra Leone passed two progressive laws; the Customary Land Rights Act and the Land Commission Act. They give local landowners the power to negotiate the value of their land and compel all companies operating in Sierra Leone to obtain the consent of local communities before starting activities.
Everyone is happy about the government’s plan to bring a third-party port and rail infrastructure expert to manage the Pepel rail and port.
It was always the government’s intention to find a third party to manage the rail and port. Upon signing the lease agreement in 2021, the government reserved the right to engage a port operator to independently run the railway.
The time has come for Sierra Leone to adopt a new approach to foreign direct investment.
Sierra Leone has acted to open the mining sector and break the infrastructure bottleneck. With ARISE IIP, the resource curse will be a thing of the past. Sierra Leone must be a choice investment destination but not at the expense of local communities.
