The Ministers of Infrastructure, Equipment and Public Works of the Member States of the Abidjan – Lagos Highway Construction Project are meeting for the 18th session of their Steering Committee.
The Ministers of the five Member States of the Abidjan-Lagos Highway Construction Project are meeting on March 17, 2023 at the Sofitel Hotel in Abidjan in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire as part of the 18th session of the Project Steering Committee. The Opening Ceremony held in the morning was marked by three speeches. First, the welcome speech of the Minister of Equipment and Road Maintenance of Côte d’Ivoire, Mr Amedé Koffi Kouakou, then the Speech by Mr. Sédiko DOUKA, ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation and finally the Official Opening Speech of the Honourable Minister Babatundé Radji FASHOLA, Minister of Public Works and Housing of Nigeria,
Several items relating to the progress of the project are on the agenda of this 18th Session. These include: (i) the designation of the members of the Board of Directors of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Management Authority (ALCoMA) (ii) the state of implementation of the studies in progress, (iii) the rights of way and easements, (iv) the visibility of the project, (v) the tunnel at the Accra level and (vi) the financing of
The Ministers of Infrastructure of Togo and Ghana also take part in the meeting of the Steering Committee as well as the Representatives of the Technical and Financial Partners (AfDB, EU, JICA), and the focal points, Experts members of the Technical Committee of the Project.
As a reminder, the Corridor project aims to build a 1030 km highway between Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire and Lagos in Nigeria, via Ghana, Togo and Benin. It has been shown to be economically viable and financially profitable for a total cost of USD 15 billion. It represents a logical continuation of the large Dakar-Abidjan-Lagos Corridor of 4,560 km which is itself part of the African Union’s trans-African road network TAH7 (Trans-African Highway) with an extension to Mombassa in Kenya on the TAH8
The Corridor represents 70% of commercial transactions and traffic in West Africa, therefore important for the competitiveness of the economies of the ECOWAS Member States because transport, energy and telecommunications are key elements that influence the costs of the factors of production (40%). The realisation of this project will increase intra-community trade, which is still weak with a rate of only 15%. It is one of the flagship projects of the African Union’s Infrastructure Development Programme in Africa (IFAD) that will ensure the visibility of ECOWAS.
