The Abidjan-Lagos corridor highway is set to become a powerful economic and industrial hub courtesy of the Spatial Development Initiative promoted by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Mike Salawou, director of the infrastructure and urban development department at the AfDB, said this in a statement.

Work on the 1,028km transnational coastal motorway is due to begin in 2026 and is earmarked for completion by 2030. The highway connects Côte d’Ivoire to Nigeria and crosses Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

He said the transport corridor needs to become an economic corridor, adding that this economic corridor approach also naturally overlapped with major urban development.

Mr Salawou said the consultancy firm responsible for devising the SDI revealed that 206 specific interventions that could initially require primarily private sector funding investments of around $6.8 billion were identified.

He said the spheres targeted for transformative investment include energy, renewable energy, manufacturing, transport and logistics, agriculture and agri-industry, ICT, tourism, mining and special economic zones.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission said its objective was to ensure that the corridor and its developed economic activities contributed to the ECOWAS regional integration agenda.

The director of transport at ECOWAS, Chris Appoiah, said this was an integrated project that, once implemented, would help achieve the economic union desired on the continent.

According to Mr Appoiah, the toll-free motorway will have four to six lanes, with up to eight lanes in Lagos.

The director said that after 82km through Nigeria, the road will cover 520km in Ghana, 144km in Cote d’Ivoire, 90km in Togo, and 127km in Benin.

Lydie Ehouman, the chief transport economist and project manager at the AfDB, presented the preparatory studies for the project. She said it would link an urban population expected to reach 173 million people by 2050 and connect the most densely populated metropolitan areas in West Africa.

(NAN)