Billionaire Friedland's HPX signs pact for Guinea-Liberia rail link

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - U.S. firm High Power Exploration Inc (HPX), founded by mining billionaire Robert Friedland, said on Monday it had signed a letter of intent with Liberia's government and Guma Africa Group to develop rail and road projects linking it with Guinea.

The infrastructure projects, known as the Liberty Corridor, are expected to support the West African region's connection to world markets and are estimated to cost between $3 billion to $5 billion, HPX said in a statement.

Guma Africa is led by South African businessman Robert Gumede.

The planned corridor will have a new heavy duty railroad connecting the Nimba district of Guinea to a new Liberian deep water port.

The statement did not give timelines for the projects.

HPX and Guma Africa entered into negotiations with Liberia's government to agree on a framework granting exclusive rights to develop, finance and grant operating rights to the Liberty Corridor, HPX said.

The project will also upgrade an existing road and expand renewable power systems from Liberia to Guinea as well as high-speed telecoms infrastructure.

The Liberia-Guinea infrastructure link could potentially transform the mineral-rich Nimba region, as well as projects along the railway and road corridor in Liberia, HPX said.

(Reporting by Felix Njini; writing by Anait Miridzhanian; editing by Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan)