Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of Ghana, has emphasized the significance of the Abidjan-Lagos corridor highway in achieving the benefits associated with the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area in a keynote address on behalf of the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo.

The Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of Ghana commended the Ministers of Roads Infrastructure of the five (5) corridor member Countries namely, Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin and the ECOWAS commission for their sustained effort to the corridor highway project and strong collaboration to seeing it materialized.

The former Finance Minister of the Republic of Ghana recalled discussions in 2003 during his tenure as Finance Minister of Ghana on ways to improve development in the ECOWAS region to include the development of a common payment system and the need to develop a regional road infrastructure.

“The first idea was to look at a common payment system within ECOWAS and secondly everyone in the room agreed that we should look for money to do road infrastructure in the sub-region because at the end of the day, movement of goods and people will require the needed infrastructure.” Yaw Osafo-Maafo recalled.

He expressed excitement over the assurance of AfDB to raise the required funds for the highway construction. “I was so happy to hear from AfDB that raising funds is their business, they are good at that and they will raise it for us. We are going to rely on AfDB to lead the consortium to raise the funds for this project and I don’t think from what I heard from them, there will be any difficulty.”

Osafo-Maafo described the highway project as top on the agenda of Ghana’s government.

“The Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway Project is on the priority list of the Government of Ghana and we keenly look forward to the day that the sword will be raised for the commencement of this project. We believe that this project will give a new dimension to ECOWAS and we believe it will change the economies of the five (5) countries and therefore whatever we can do to support it, we will do it.”

Yaw Osafo-Maafo expressed optimism about the role of the corridor highway in realizing the vision of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

“This road is significant in realizing the full benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The integration of rail infrastructure and the industrial zones along the corridor will help the sub-region achieve the full potential of this highway project and I believe that whatever it costs to get this project commence as soon as possible, let us do it.”

The Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of Ghana praised Ghana’s Ministry of Roads and Highways for embarking on a sensitization activities carried out along the host communities of the highway project and urged all communities and stakeholders to corporate for the successful implementation of the project.