Experts agree on Trans African Highways to accelerate development in Africa

Experts have adopted an action plan and a set of recommendations that will help speed up the Trans African Highways (TAH) in order to accelerate the overall socioeconomic development process in Africa.

The experts concluded on the action plan during a meeting at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia saying the TAH implementation will help landlocked developing countries.

The experts reviewed conditions of development of road infrastructure and road transport in Africa, including issues related to design, construction and operation, particularly those on the movement between the African regional road networks, according to a statement from the ECA.

At the end of deliberations, ECA says the experts recommended the “adoption of uniform minimum continental norms and standards for design, construction, maintenance and operation of Trans African Highways” and noted the need to ensure that TAH norms and standards are fully complemented with international homogeneous and comprehensible road signs.

They further recommended the adoption of an “Intergovernmental Agreement by the Sector Ministers that will provide the legal framework to define the norms, standards and specifications for the Trans African Highways,” This, the experts agreed, will strengthen the coordination and implementation of the Trans African Highways, it added.

ECA indicated that the outcomes are expected to be considered by the forthcoming Second African Union Commission (AUC) Conference of the African Ministers in charge of Transport in November 2011.

By Ekow Quandzie