President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has announced the bank’s success in securing $15.6bn for the construction of the Lagos-Abidjan highway corridor.
The highway, when completed, would ease transportation across West Africa.
He made this declaration during the 2021 Africa Investment Forum virtual boardroom closing session on Thursday.
The AfDB president said, “The biggest deal for the boardroom is the $15.6bn deal for the Lagos-Abidjan highway corridor. The 46-lane highway corridor will connect Lagos, Cotonou, Lome, Accra and Abidjan.”
Adesina believes that this project would support trade in West Africa, impacting the lives of over 500 million people, reducing transport costs and increasing intra-regional trade volume.
“It will support 75 per cent of the trade in the West African region. The project will impact the lives of over 500 million people. It would reduce transport costs by 48 per cent. It would increase intra-regional trade volume by 15 to 25 per cent. It would connect land-locked cities to port countries,” he said.
