World Bank approves $228m for West Africa transport corridor

The Board of Directors of the World Bank last week approved a facility for $228 million for the first phase of the Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport Facilitation Programme, the Bank has said in a press release copied to ghanabusinessnews.com.

According to the release, the project will help overhaul the main transport artery stretching along the West Africa coast from Abidjan to Lagos, and the customs and immigration posts and systems located on the corridor.

The release indicated that the 998.8 km coastal corridor links some of the largest and economically most dynamic capitals in Africa (Abidjan, Accra, Lomé, Cotonou and Lagos), and serves a population of over 35 million people. Several segments of the corridor account for the highest traffic in West and Central Africa, with up to 10,000 people and several thousand vehicles crossing borders each day.

This regional operation, when completed, will help improve the movement of people and facilitate trade between the five countries served by the corridor; Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria.

The programme will be executed in two phases: the first phase, for an estimated cost of US$228 million, covers Ghana, Togo and Benin; while the second phase, for an estimated cost of US$89.5 million, covers Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria, the release said.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi