Member States of the Abidjan – Lagos Highway Construction Project meet for the 8th session of their Steering Committee

Abidjan, the capital of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire is hosting on March 17, 2023, the 8th session of the Steering Committee for the Construction Project of a Motorway between Abidjan and Lagos. This Steering Committee, placed under the sponsorship of the Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, follows the 7th meeting held on December 9, 2022 in Lomé, Togo, and during which several tasks and missions were assigned to ECOWAS and the five Corridor/Project Member States.

Several points relating to the progress of the project are on the agenda of this 8th Session. These include: (i) the establishment of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Management Authority (ALCoMA) and its Headquarters (ii) the status of implementation of studies in progress, (iii) the rights of way and easements, (iv) the visibility of the project, (v) the tunnel at Accra and (vi) the financing of the project.

The ECOWAS Commission will be represented at this meeting by Commissioner Sédiko DOUKA in charge of Infrastructure, Energy, Mines, Water, Digitalization and Post. The Abidjan meeting will also know the presence of the Ministers in charge of Infrastructure, Equipment, Public Works and Transport, Members of the Steering Committee of Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria; of Madame Fanta CISSE, Resident Representative of ECOWAS to Cote d’Ivoire; Representatives of the Technical and Financial Partners, 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. It has been demonstrated economically viable and financially profitable for a total cost of 15 billion USD. It represents a logical continuation of the great 4,560 km Dakar-Abidjan-Lagos Corridor which itself is part of the African Union’s trans-African road network TAH7 (Trans-African Highway) with an extension to Mombassa in Kenya on the 6,259km TAH8.

The Corridor Project represents 70% of commercial transactions and traffic in West Africa, therefore important for the competitiveness of the economies of ECOWAS Member States because transport, energy and telecommunications are key elements that influence costs. production factors (40%). The realization of this project will make it possible to increase intra-community trade which is still low with a rate by only 15%. It is one of the flagship projects of the African Union’s Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) which will help to establish visibility for ECOWAS.