Stakeholders confer on Abidjan-Lagos project

Stakeholders on the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway Development Project have converged on Accra to make inputs into the design and prepare the necessary documents to raise investments for the project. 

This will pave the way for the actual construction of the much-anticipated corridor highway, which has been touted as a game-changer in the supply chain infrastructure capacity of West Africa.

The stakeholders, made up of ministers responsible for road and infrastructure in the five beneficiary countries, will also deliberate on the feasibility and preliminary stage of the 1,028-kilometre road project connecting Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo. 

Opening

Opening the four-day meeting in Accra yesterday, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Roads and Highways, Dr Abass M. Awolu, said the country’s project team had undertaken sensitisation of relevant and affected communities as part of the land acquisition process to ensure a seamless construction phase.

“This project is very dear to Ghana as it traverses one of our most important road corridors which has been evaluated as high priority in the economic development of the country. 
“We, therefore, are keen in the progress of this project, and we pray that all members States continue to be committed to this goal,” he said. 

Protection

He said the government would ensure that the slots for the corridor would be protected, adding that “we will not allow any other development to go on”.

Dr Awolu noted that although some farmlands would be affected in the process, measures were also underway to reduce the impact of the project on property and people.

“I sincerely believe other member States have equally completed the tasks assigned at the previous meeting to pave the way for the next steps,” he added. 

Status

Giving the status of the project, the acting Director of Transport of the ECOWAS Commission, Chris Appiah, said the team had completed the technical and feasibility phase of the project, and was zooming into the design phase.

He revealed that currently, the team was preparing the bidding documents to commence investment mobilisation.

“So far, funding for the technical studies alone speaks to the fact that the project is a priority project for country heads and partners,” he added.

In line with that, Mr Appiah said the African Development Bank and the European Union had contributed about $38 million for the preliminary phase of the project, with the Ghana government contributing $1.4 million as a grant for the project.

Aside from that, he said, ECOWAS had committed to dedicate $200,000 every year to support coordination of the project.  

He further revealed that heads of state had committed to issues of compensation and resettlement, with others undertaking several sensitisation drives with traditional leaders and the public to ensure there would be no investment losses. 

Background

The construction of the homogenous highway corridor linking the five countries was formally approved by Heads of State of ECOWAS member countries at the 42nd Ordinary Summit in February 2013.

The corridor highway links major cities in West Africa, including Abidjan, Accra, Lomé, Cotonou and Lagos.

It also connects dynamic seaport infrastructure which services the region’s landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, and, therefore, account for 75 per cent of trade volumes within West Africa, making the corridor a great potential for accelerating West Africa’s economic growth.

The Abidjan-Lagos corridor highway project is a six-lane infrastructure of three-lane dual carriage standardised 1,028km long highway project, which is part of the Dakar-Lagos Trans African Highway linking a number of densely populated and economically vibrant cities.

The corridor also links highly dynamic seaports.