The Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway Development Project will create a six-lane supranational highway linking Abidjan, Accra, Lomé, Cotonou and Lagos through Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The project also includes a common corridor-management framework, trade and transport facilitation, road-safety systems and a spatial-development programme intended to transform the route into an integrated economic corridor.
The original PAP II submission recorded S2B - Feasibility and an early CAPEX estimate of approximately USD 7 billion. Following completion of feasibility and preliminary design work, current ECOWAS reporting places the investment cost at approximately USD 14.7 billion for the 1,028 km highway. ECOWAS reported validation of feasibility and technical studies in 2025, development of financing models for fifteen concession lots and advancement to the investment stage in 2026. Financing-identification missions and the first ALCoMA board meeting were held in 2026. The project is therefore reported at S3A - Project Structuring.
The Abidjan-Lagos corridor connects five of West Africa's largest urban and economic centres and serves ports and inland markets across the region. The project is intended to develop a homogeneous six-lane dual carriageway from Côte d'Ivoire through Ghana, Togo and Benin to Nigeria, using a new alignment while incorporating suitable existing sections where required.
The programme combines hard infrastructure with institutional and trade-facilitation components. Its preparation includes feasibility, environmental and social assessment, detailed engineering design, PPP viability analysis, road-safety audits, spatial-development planning, harmonised transit and border systems and establishment of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Management Authority.
ECOWAS is the implementing agency on behalf of the five corridor states. The project treaty and institutional framework provide for ALCoMA to own, develop, manage and operate the supranational highway. This regional governance model is essential because the road must use common standards, concession arrangements and operating rules.
The original PAP II estimate of approximately USD 7 billion was an early baseline. After feasibility and preliminary design, ECOWAS reported a current investment estimate of approximately USD 14.7 billion for a 1,028 km highway, to be financed through a mixed public-private model.
During 2024, national and regional workshops reviewed and validated the detailed-design and trade-facilitation studies. In 2025, ECOWAS reported that the project had entered the final-design phase and that technical experts were considering design options and financing models for fifteen concession lots. In 2026, ECOWAS and AfDB began country missions to initiate financing discussions, and ALCoMA held its first board meeting.
These milestones demonstrate project structuring and investment preparation. Land acquisition, right-of-way protection, investor mobilisation and completion of transaction documentation remain necessary before tendering or physical implementation.
The project aims to provide a safe, high-capacity and consistently managed highway connecting the major economic centres of the Abidjan-Lagos corridor. It is intended to reduce travel and logistics costs, improve cross-border movement, support trade and industrial activity and strengthen access to regional ports and inland markets.
It also seeks to establish harmonised corridor governance, border procedures, road-safety systems and spatial development planning. The wider objective is to transform the existing route into a supranational economic corridor that supports employment, investment, regional value chains and free movement within ECOWAS.