More troubling details continue to emerge from an independent review of ArcelorMittal Liberia’s (AML) proposed Third Amendment to its mineral Development Agreement, which risks making Liberia a tenant to a multinational company.
Government sources who have reviewed a leaked draft, which is under review by President Joseph Boakai, believe it would significantly expand the firm’s control over Liberia’s strategic infrastructure and land.
If adopted in its current form, the amendment could effectively place decisive control of the Yekepa–Buchanan railway, the adjacent concession land, and substantial port access in the hands of a single private company for the next 25+ years.
The draft contains a sweeping “supremacy clause” that would give the AML agreement precedence over conflicting provisions of Liberian law. More consequentially, the accompanying Rail System Operating Principles (RSOPs) and amendment language would redefine AML’s concession area as a “Single Production Area” treated as mining license land. This change would vest AML with the authority to determine who may use the railway corridor and surrounding land, and under what terms.
Key provisions in the leaked draft agreement:
Undermine the National Railway Authority (NRA): The RSOPs bind operator and user roles in ways that would allow AML to supersede the NRA’s choice of an independent railway operator, potentially blocking access for third parties and converting the line into a company dominated asset.
Consolidate control over Buchanan Port access: The amendment would formalize practices that critics say already concentrate de facto control of port movements with AML. Port access could be reduced to short term, revocable arrangements managed by the company, curtailing expansion for wider commercial use.
Impose onerous conditions on other users: The draft requires new users to transport at least 5 million tons per annum within three years to retain access — a threshold no potential non-AML customer is expected to meet — and gives AML the right to set the sequencing of any new users’ works, likely delaying third party rehabilitation projects.
Grant reversion and screening rights: AML would be able to assume an “intermediary operator” role indefinitely and to screen its successor, effectively shaping future control over operations even after any formal operator has been appointed.
The draft would lock in these arrangements for more than 25 years in exchange for an annual fee reportedly set at US$500,000 — a sum that critics say is far below the economic value of exclusive access to rail, port and land corridors.
Observers warn the package could deter investment in mineral and agricultural logistics, constrict multiuser development, and hobble efforts to grow GDP at a time when Liberia faces a heavy public debt burden.
Local stakeholders in Nimba, Bong and Grand Bassa counties — areas that would be directly affected by longstanding concession and social investment issues — would in particular lose potential employment and freight opportunities if third party access and port expansion are constrained, advocates say.
The proposed changes come against a backdrop of international attention. The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee recently praised Liberia’s progress toward “a transparent, multi user rail system under a truly independent operator framework,” saying such arrangements could spur economic growth and U.S. investment in critical minerals. Critics of the AML amendment say the draft would reverse that progress by collapsing a multiuser model into effective AML control.
The amendment is under consideration by President Boakai and must ultimately secure approvals from Liberian authorities and the Legislature.
Lawmakers and civil society groups are being urged to scrutinize the draft. Advocates for rejection argue the package would cede too much sovereign control of strategic transport infrastructure and could make Liberia practically and symbolically a tenant on its own territory for decades.
ArcelorMittal Liberia and the Liberian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the leaked draft.
