They underscored its significance as a flagship and top-priority regional initiative poised to make substantial contributions to the economic and social development of the region.

The ministers also acknowledged the decision made by the Heads of State and Governments during the 63rd Summit in Bissau, Guinea Bissau on July 9, 2023, to designate Côte d'Ivoire as the headquarters for the corridor management authority (ALCOMA) and pledged their unreserved dedication to its establishment.

These were contained in a communique issued at the end of the meeting of the Steering Committee of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway Development Project on December 15, 2023, in Cotonou, Benin Republic.

The Steering Committee is made up of Ministers in charge of road infrastructure set up by the heads of state and government of the Corridor through the Corridor Treaty signed on March 3, 2014, to oversee the implementation of the project.

The purpose of the Steering Committee meeting was to review the progress of the project implementation, in particular critical issues regarding measures to expedite the completion of technical studies, financing and operationalisation of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Management Authority (ALCoMA).

The meeting also considered the level of implementation of the conclusions of the 19th meeting of the Steering Committee held on May 19, 2023, in Accra, Ghana.

The 20th Meeting of the Steering Committee was attended by the Ministers in charge of Road Infrastructure or their representatives of the Corridor Member States, including Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo.

Ghana was represented by the Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah.

Representatives of other institutions took part in the meeting.

Partners

The ministers thanked the two main Development Partners (the African Development Bank and the European Union) for their continued support and commitment to the effective implementation of the project and called upon other partners present to support the outstanding activities towards the achievement of the project.

“Ministers acknowledge the response of the AfDB requesting for an open tender to recruit a consultant team for the Accra bypass tunnel option.

“However, in the interest of time, they requested the AfDB to accept that an addendum on the tunnel studies should be prepared to permit the current design consultant to provide an international tunnel expert team to conduct the study and ensure alignment with the timelines of other components of the corridor project,” the communique stated.

The communique said the representative of the AfDB affirmed the strong commitment and the wish of the bank and its partners to commence the construction of the project by 2025.

Ghana

Mr Amoako-Attah said the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway Project promised economic development and would push the countries closer to the eventual achievement of a seamless ECOWAS.

He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was extremely interested in the project and requested updates very often.

“Of more importance to me today is the decision by the AfDB and ECOWAS on the studies of the Accra tunnel, which I have been informed by my expert has been delayed with no official communication to us.

“I wish to emphasise that this project will be incomplete without the entire 1028km stretch thoroughly studied and designed before the actual construction work begins.

I expect this meeting to resolve these outstanding studies on the Accra tunnel today since the detailed design of the entire project is expected to be completed by the end of this month,” he said.