ECOWAS To Move For Highway Funding

T

he Economic Commu
nity of West African States (ECOWAS) Steering Committee on the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor plans to approach members of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) for funding of the project.

This follows a meeting that has been concluded in Abuja.

The committee recommended that the BRICS countries, which comprises of the fastest-developing economies in the world, particularly China and India, should be approached with a view to securing the required financing.

At least $2 billion is required for the project linking Nigeria and the Ivory Coast.

The committee also recommended that a feasibility study be conducted prior to securing sustainable financing sources and contracting the services of the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank and the African Finance Corporation (AFC) as financial and project set-up consultants.

ECOWAS plans to resume construction in 2014.

The 1 000 km- road, will account for 75 per cent of regional trade and impact on some 30 million ECOWAS of the citizens.

It will link major cities such as Lagos, Cotonou, Accra, Lomé and Abidjan as well as the region’s sea ports and landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

A committee comprising Ministers of Road Infrastructure, Transport, Public Works, Finance and Justice of Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo is steering the project.