ECOWAS and AfDB to host the 1st Roundtable of Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) for the construction of the Abidjan – Lagos corridor Highway.

The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) is organizing, on Tuesday 26 September 2023 in Abidjan (Republic of Côte d’Ivoire), a roundtable of major regional and international DFIs to inform and raise awareness about the Abidjan-Lagos corridor highway construction project.

This roundtable is initiated following the instruction given to the ECOWAS Commission by the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS at its 63rd Ordinary Summit to collaborate with the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), as well as other development partners and the private sector, to start vigorous resource mobilization efforts to finance the construction of the Abidjan – Lagos Highway.

To this end, the Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization engaged the African Development Bank (AfDB) and EBID to commence joint consultations with other key regional and international Development Financing Institutions (DFIs), to showcase the investment requirements and opportunities in the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway project, by providing information and implementation updates. Subsequently, private investors and equity contributors will also be engaged through several market sounding sessions, once the technical studies are completed

The main objective of this roundtable of DFIs , , is to bring together the main regional and international DFIs to provide them with the latest information on this important regional project. This meeting will also serve as an awareness-raising platform and a form ‘soft market testing’ of the project to arouse the interest of investors and take into account their recommendations and requirements. This is taking place while efforts are underway to finalize the technical studies in October 2023.

It should be recalled that, the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Construction Project is a 1,028 km supranational highway that forms an important part of the trans-African highway network that will connect the economic capitals of five West African countries, namely Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The highway project commences from Bingerville in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire and ends in Lagos, Nigeria. This forms the first phase of the Trans-African Highway Number 7 which starts with the Maritime link from Praia in Cabo Verde through Dakar to Abidjan by road.

This Project, which is in line with the objectives of the ECOWAS Vision 2050, has the key objectives of (i) facilitating the movement of people and goods, and (ii) accelerating trade and transport, regional and international, improving road infrastructure. Eventually the transport corridor will be transformed into a development corridor to stimulate investment, sustainable development and poverty reduction in the region.