Abidjan to host on March 17th 2023: The 8th Session of the Steering Committee for the Construction Project of a Motorway between Abidjan and Lagos

By Abdul Rahman Bangura–

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone- This Steering Committee is positioned under the auspices of the Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, regards the 7th meeting held on December 9, 2022, in Lomé, Togo and during which various assignments and missions were appointed to ECOWAS and the five Corridor/Project Member States.

Some aspects of the improvement of the program are on the schedule for 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 exemplified at this meeting by Commissioner Sédiko Douka in charge of Infrastructure, Energy, Mines, Water, Digitalization and Post. The Abidjan meeting will likewise realize the dignity 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, the focal points, Experts members of the Technical Committee of the Project.

For a gentle memento, the Corridor project intends to assemble a 1030 km highway between Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire and Lagos in Nigeria. It has been ascertained economically achievable and financially efficient for a total cost of $15 billion. It embodies a reasonable consequence of the tremendous 4,560 km Dakar-Abidjan-Lagos Corridor which itself is a facet of the African Union’s Trans-African road network TAH7 (Trans-African Highway) with an expansion to Mombassa in Kenya on the 6,259km TAH8.

The Corridor Project depicts 70” of ’ commercial transactions and traffic in West Africa, thus crucial for the competitiveness of the thrifts of ECOWAS Member States because transport, energy, and telecommunications are fundamental components that impact costs. Production factors (40%). The culmination of this project will generate it to boost intra-community trade which is however meager with a ratio of only 15%. It is one of the flagship projects of the African Union’s Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) that will enable the solidification of the viability of ECOWAS.

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports,  Africa Correspondent