The Study Phase of the work on the over 1028 km ECOWAS six-lane (2×3 lanes) Abidjan Lagos Corridor Highway to link five countries of the ECOWAS region, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria has since started. One This supra-national highway tagged ‘’Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway’’ links major cities and crosses a high economic potential zone with about 75% of West Africa’s volume of trade.
The Project is currently at the study stage and the Feasibility Study and Preliminary Designs have been completed. The project preparation and technical studies is being funded by the African Development Bank, European Union and the ECOWAS Commission.
A Steering Committee made up of Ministers in-charge of Road Infrastructure from the five (5) Corridor Member Countries (CMCs) was established by the Presidents in the Corridor Treaty, with Nigeria being the Chairperson, to provide oversight and high-level guidance on the implementation of the Program. The Steering Committee is supported by a Committee of Technical Experts (Senior Engineering Officials) from the Ministries in charge of Road Infrastructure in the five CMCs. Under the supervision of the Infrastructure Department of the ECOWAS Commission, led by the Commissioner for Infrastructure, a Project Implementation Unit (PIU) has been established to provide dedicated hands-on support for the day-to-day implementation of the technical studies and related activities.
Due to the significant length of the Highway, nearly 1028km, and traversing through five countries of the ECOWAS region, the study was split into three lots. The ECOWAS Commission signed service contracts with three Design and Engineering Consultants in February 2019 as follows:
| Lot Number | Section | Length (Km) | Consultant (Lead) | Starting Date |
| 1 | Cote d’Ivoire -Ghana | 295 | SETEC International | March 2019 |
| 2 | Ghana | 466 | PEARL Consulting | March 2019 |
| 3 | Togo-Benin-Nigeria | 320 | SCET Tunisie | March 2019 |
These studies consist of the following phases:
- PHASE1: Harmonization and confirmation of the Technical Offer.
- PHASE2: Technical and Economic Studies and Preliminary designs.
- PHASE3: Detail Design and Technical Specifications.
- PHASE4: Financing and implementation Strategy and Preparation of tender documents.
The PHASE 1 and 2 activities have been completed and to get started on PHASE 3, the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) undertook a Technical Site Visit of the entire Corridor (Lots 1, 2 and 3) in order to meet with the three Consultants to clarify technical issues arising from the alignment submitted by the Consultants after the Preliminary Designs that needs to be taken into consideration in the framework of the detailed design study. This mission which covered all three Lots started on the Highway on 15th September 2022 with a Kick-off Meeting in Abuja (ECOWAS Commission Annex Niger House) and terminated in Abidjan on October 7th, 2022.
