Project Showcase

The project proposes a continuous rail loop connecting five West African capitals: Abidjan, Ouagadougou, Niamey, Cotonou and Lomé. The approved network length is 2,928 km, comprising approximately 1,157 km between Abidjan and Ouagadougou, 502 km between Ouagadougou and Niamey, 1,101 km between Niamey and Cotonou and 168 km between Cotonou and Lomé. The programme involves rehabilitation and modernisation of existing railway assets, construction of missing links and development of interoperable services across Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger and Togo. The PAP II technical concept specifies standard gauge and diesel traction, although detailed studies must confirm the final technology, phasing and interoperability requirements. The railway is intended to provide Burkina Faso and Niger with competitive access to coastal ports, improve the movement of bulk commodities and passengers and support development of mining, agricultural and industrial production. ECOWAS and UEMOA are the regional institutions responsible for coordination. The PAP II estimate is USD 53.96 billion in CAPEX, with USD 6.9 million for technical studies and preparation. Because the programme contains existing and missing sections across five countries, a later consolidated feasibility study may materially revise its phasing and cost. On 7 March 2024, the UEMOA Commission adopted a decision formally establishing the regional rail-loop project. UEMOA stated that the decision would facilitate the mobilisation of financing for missing links and the rehabilitation of existing lines. Its 2025-2030 strategic plan schedules studies for the rail loop.

The programme is intended to establish an integrated economic and transport corridor from Praia in Cabo Verde to Dakar and onward to Abidjan through the coastal states of western Africa. The road component follows the Dakar-Banjul-Bissau-Conakry-Freetown-Monrovia-Abidjan route, while a maritime service is intended to connect Praia with Dakar and neighbouring mainland ports. The current ECOWAS alignment work identifies approximately 3,164 km for the highway component and about 600 km for the maritime connection. The project is broader than a highway: the founding corridor treaty allows for rail, maritime and air transport, fibre-optic infrastructure, pipelines and economic-development interventions. The location countries are Cabo Verde, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire. Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Nigeria benefit through links with inland and adjoining regional corridors. ECOWAS and the future corridor authority are responsible for regional coordination. The PAP II submission estimated USD 21 billion in CAPEX and USD 70 million for technical studies and preparation. AfDB and NEPAD-IPPF support financed initial studies, including identification of the optimal route and socio-economic and financial work on the maritime link. ECOWAS reported in September 2025 that the preliminary studies for the two initial components had been completed. The ministerial steering committee approved the programme for the next stages, including additional studies, treaty ratification, institutional arrangements and financing. These milestones support S2B but do not establish completion of detailed design for all components, financial close, tendering or corridor-wide construction. Individual works located along the route, including national roads or specific bridges, should not automatically advance the whole umbrella programme.

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 is part of the ECOWAS Master Plan's renewable-energy subprogramme for an integrated and efficient West African electricity system. It will develop a scalable, multiphase and multi-site solar power park in Mali with a potential capacity of 150 MW. The selected sites are Fana, Bougouni and Sanankoroba around Bamako. Verified implementation and technical context: The project is intended to aggregate solar development into a regional-scale investment connected to the West African Power Pool rather than treat each site as an unrelated national plant. Preparation must confirm solar resource, land, grid connection, transmission capacity, environmental and social requirements, commercial structure, phased capacity and the relationship among the Fana, Bougouni and Sanankoroba sites. Desert-to-Power reporting confirms that regional on-grid and off-grid solar programmes are being advanced through pre-feasibility work. Construction or financing of a separate solar facility at one location must not automatically be reported as implementation of the full PP2 regional park.

The Amilcar Cabral Submarine Cable System (ACSCS) is a 3,555 km submarine fibre optic cable project connecting Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The system comprises a 2,955 km main trunk and includes four branching units to the mainland countries and two stubs for future expansion to the north and south respectively. It is designed with a minimum capacity of 12 Tbps per fibre pair and a 25-year operational lifespan. The cable will land in Praia, Cabo Verde, and connect to the EllaLink submarine cable system, providing a direct link to Brazil and Europe. The project is a key component of the ECOWAS broadband backbone programme and aims to provide a redundant, high-capacity international gateway for the participating countries, which currently rely predominantly on the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable. The project has been in development since 2018 and is led by a consortium of national operators and public entities from the six participating countries, coordinated by the ECOWAS Project Preparation and Development Unit (PPDU). The full system cost is estimated at USD 91.3 million, with Liberia's portion estimated at USD 14.29 million. The Amilcar Cabral submarine Cable Project is part of the ECOWAS broadband Backbone infrastructure programme aimed at connecting the island nation of Cabo Verde to its nearest neighbors on the mainland namely Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.

The project is intended to establish a reliable maritime connection of more than 660 km between Praia and Dakar, with potential interfaces to other West African ports through the Praia-Dakar-Abidjan corridor. The service is intended to carry passengers and cargo and may use a combined container and RoPax operating model. The project includes market and traffic analysis, vessel and port-infrastructure requirements, environmental and social analysis, financial modelling, management and governance arrangements, procurement design and a sustainable operating model. The April 2015 Cabo Verde-Senegal memorandum and the later ECOWAS corridor framework provide the institutional basis. ECOWAS reported progress in completing financial and technical studies in 2024. In July 2025, stakeholders validated the financial and implementation strategy but also required ECOWAS to establish operational, infrastructure and technical preconditions, define management procedures, optimise cost estimates and prepare an appropriate procurement mechanism. A 2026 finance-specialist recruitment further confirms continuing structuring work. Announced expectations for operation by the end of 2026 are targets.

The Noépé One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) is a key infrastructure project on the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor, located at the Ghana-Togo border. The project involves the construction of a modern, integrated border facility on the Togolese side at Noépé, opposite Aflao in Ghana. The scope includes constructing new administrative buildings, inspection bays, parking areas, and associated infrastructure (water, sanitation, ICT) to facilitate joint border operations. The project is designed to implement the OSBP concept, harmonizing procedures between Ghana and Togo to create a single customs and immigration control point.

The ECOWAS Regional Internet Exchange Point (RIXP) project aims to establish a public peering hub to localize internet traffic exchange among the 15 ECOWAS member states. The project involves setting up a regional Internet Exchange Point (RIXP) where traffic between countries within the West Africa region can be exchanged by public peering, thereby avoiding routing through external transit hubs located outside the region. Key components include the interconnection of existing National IXPs (NIXPs) within ECOWAS member states to create a regional hub for digital services, and the strengthening or creation of national IXPs in member states where they do not yet exist (notably Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone, which as of 2023 had not yet established their own IXPs). The project is implemented by the ECOWAS Project Preparation and Development Unit (PPDU) and the ECOWAS Directorate for the Digital Economy and Postal Services, with feasibility study funding provided by the European Union. The African Internet Exchange System (AXIS) project of the African Union, which supports the establishment of at least one RIXP in each of Africa's Regional Economic Communities (RECs), provides the continental framework within which this initiative sits. The RIXP is a flagship enabler for several other ECOWAS digital economy initiatives, including affordable regional mobile roaming, the regional customs network (ALISA project), and the ECOWAS e-commerce strategy. The project is to set up a regional internet exchange point (RIXP) where traffic between countries within the West Africa region can be exchanged by public peering