Seven passenger railcars and their associated critical spares, imported from Japan by ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (IIP) Ltd, will soon arrive in Sierra Leone to boost the transportation sector and ease the burden of inter-provincial transportation problems.
It could be recalled that on 17 January 2023 the Government of Sierra Leone signed a lease agreement with ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms (IIP) Ltd to develop, manage and expand the Pepel Port and the Pepel-Tonkolili Railway. The Agreement, worth US$476 million, also aims at providing services to mining companies and other investors and rebranding the country’s mining sector through the introduction of the special economic/industrial zone project.
ARISE IIP is a conceiver; a developer and operator of high-added-value infrastructure committed to making Africa thrive with investments of several billion dollars. It has a good track record in Benin, Togo, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda.
In relation to the seven passenger railcars, the General Manager of Interface at Arise IIP, Samuel Komba Kambo, has written a letter dated 22 September 2023 to the Minister of Transport and Aviation, Ambassador Alhaji Fanday Turay, informing him about the arrival of the trains in the coming weeks.
But since the rail infrastructure in the country is currently under the control of Kingho Railway and Port Company Limited (Leone Rock); ARISE IIP is requesting that the Ministry of Transport and Aviation engage them so that the incoming seven passenger railcars be parked along the rail corridor until the commencement of passenger rail services in the country.
Meanwhile, Arise IIP has expressed its intention to submit duty-free entry forms for the shipment of the passenger trains in the coming weeks, in accordance with the provisions of the agreement. The duty-free waiver is a key element in facilitating the successful implementation of the passenger rail service.