The seventeenth (17th) Experts and Steering Committee meeting of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway Development Project was held in Lome Togo between 7th and 10th December 2022.
The Project is currently in the study stage and in the interim, a Steering Committee made up of Ministers in-charge of Works and Road Infrastructure from the five (5) Corridor Member Countries (CMCs) was established by the Presidents with Nigeria being the Chairperson, to provide oversight and high-level guidance on the implementation of the Project. The Steering Committee is supported by a Committee of Technical Experts (Senior Engineering Officials) from the Ministries in charge of Works and 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 leadership and support for the day-to-day implementation of the technical studies and related activities. This management arrangement will be replaced by the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Management Authority (ALCoMA) which will be established to facilitate the construction, manage, and operate the 6-lane Highway and its related economic development activities.
Periodically, the ECOWAS Commission organizes Experts and Steering Committee meetings which bring all stakeholders from the corridor member countries including funding Partners; African Development Bank, (AfDB) and European Union (EU) to access the progress made in the project implementation. This Steering Committee and Experts’ Meetings held in Lome Togo are the 17th in the series of such meetings.
These 17th Experts’ and Steering Committee meetings and took place in Lome Togo between December 7-10, 2022. Whereas the 7th, 8th and 10th December 2022 were dedicated to Experts’ technical review of the progress so far on the Project, the 9th day of December 2022 was for the Steering Committee Meeting chaired by Nigeria Minister of Works and Housing, His Excellency Babatunde Fashola, SAN.
The project which has funding support from the African Development Bank, (AfDB) and European Union have gained traction by resolving key challenges on the draft contract negotiation report, feasibility, and preliminary design as well as addendum for the Accra Bypass schedule. One of the Key issues early identified among member countries was the right of way of the corridor which is being resolved to kick-start implementation of the project. Interestingly, the Steering Committee also gave approval to ECOWAS Commission to commence the process of nominating board members for the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Management Authority, (ALCoMA). The ALCoMA is the umbrella Authority that will be responsible for the facilitation of the construction, management, and operation of the corridor highway project.
At these Committee Meetings, key technical experts in the project from member states, ECOWAS, Africa Development Bank, European Union, the Media etc., were in attendance.
