AfDB gets $15.6bn investment for Lagos-Abidjan highway construction



The President, African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, says the bank has secured $15.6bn investment for the construction of the Lagos-Abidjan highway.

Adesina tweeted this on his Twitter handle @akin_adesina obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Abuja.

He said that the investment would strengthen regional trade and integration in West Africa by linking the hinterlands of different Participating Member Countries.

The president said that the investment would include providing seaport access to landlocked countries and some transition states of West Africa to the vibrant seaports.

NAN reports that the Lagos-Abidjan highway interconnects the capital cities of five Western African States, covering approximately 1,028 km and eight border crossings.

They are Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria.

The Abidjan-Lagos Corridor is  a  flagship  project of  the  Programme  for  Infrastructure Development in  Africa.

It forms part of the  wider Dakar-Lagos Corridor and  a  major  part  of  the  Trans  African  Highway  Network  within  the  ECOWAS region.

The  corridor’s  current  alignment  traverses  all  major  economic centres of the five PMCs starting from “Bingerville”, a suburb of Abidjan and ending at Mile 2 (Eric Moore), in Lagos.

A statement issued by AfDB recently said the Abidjan Lagos  project is  a  key  regional  trade  and  transport  corridor  that interconnects some of the largest and most economically dynamic cities in Africa, Abidjan, Accra, Cotonou, Lomé and Lagos.

It also said that the corridor links other corridors along the north-south axis and interconnects the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad.

“The corridor interconnects the most densely populated and economically active parts of the sub-region –it intersects with a rail network and major ports/airports.

“The transport sector in West Africa plays a key role in the economic development of the region and generates about five to eight  per cent  of  its  Gross Domestic Product.

“This  remains  cognisant  of  the  fact  that  an efficient regional transport network is an enabling infrastructure required to promote regional trade  and  socio-economic  development,  inter  alia.

“ECOWAS  and  WAEMU  member  states have  consistently committed themselves  to  the  financing  of  designated  regional transport corridors.

“The Abidjan–Lagos transport corridor currently supports approximately  75 per cent of sub-regional trade activities.

“However,  a combination of hard and soft infrastructure deficiencies negates its optimal contribution to regional economic growth,’’ the Bank said.



Article first published on the Punch Website

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