Governance of Transport Corridors in OIC Member States:
Challenges, Cases and Policy Lessons
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The establishment of the ALC is based on a project-based corridor management arrangement in 2002,
which initially had little to do with the development of transport. The World Bank funded the
establishment of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organisation (ALCO) with the aim to support victims of
HIV/AIDS and to prevent its spread, because the transport sector was seen as a major contributor to
the spread of HIV/AIDS. The policy of ECOWAS on the free movement of people amongst its member
countries had contributed to an increase of mobility and migration along the main transport routes,
facilitating the uncontrolled spread of STIs and HIV infections. The corridor was chosen as a suitable
working platform to address this issue. The approach resulted in a widening of the scope of ALCO as it
found many challenges in transport infrastructure and cross border trade and transport and trade
facilitation become gradually an important component in regional cooperation. The initial funding
period was from 2003 to 2007 and was followed up by the Abidjan-Lagos Trade and Transport
Facilitation Project (ALTTFP), running from 2010 to 2017 for Benin, Togo and Ghana, and from 2012
until 2018 for Côte d'Ivoire. For the period of 2016 till 2018 ALCO also received a grant fromThe Global
Fund. Since then, major improvements have been achieved not only regarding the spread of HIV/AIDS,
but also concerning the waiting times at ports and border crossings 29. Nevertheless, many challenges
for corridor improvements still exist, especially with respect to harmonizing technical standards and
simplification of border procedures30.
With the World Bank funding ending, a weak legal basis and lacking institutional instruments, there
was little infrastructure in place to ensure further progress in the development of the ACL. At the same
time, there was enough support for further development of the ACL among the five nations, with
support from international institutions like the African Union, African Development Bank and
ECOWAS. Since the 2010s, new steps are taken under leadership of ECOWAS towards the
establishment of a dedicated governance institution for the ACL. This was supported by transport
ministries of the five nations, plus institutions like ALCO, AfDB, EU, GTZ and JICA. Initial studies were
conducted by all these parties to explore five areas: trade facilitation; improvement of the road
corridor's infrastructure; project management and coordination; HIV/AIDS programs; and corridor
performance monitoring. ALC is also incorporated as a flagship project in the Programme for
Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), further indicating the importance of ACL for the region.
In 2014, the five nations signed a treaty on developing an implementation plan for a proposed highway
between Abidjan and Lagos. In 2016, a detailed study for the Abidjan-Lagos highway by the AfDB was
finished and meetings took place on the content of a Memorandum of Understanding between the
nations.
Presently, the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Management Authority (ALCoMA) is in the process of being
established as part of the ‘Study of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway Development Project’ financed
by the African Development Bank. The basic idea is to create a corridor management governance
structure with more authority and resources than ALCO. In November 2017, a treaty regarding the
Realisation of the Abidjan-Lagos Highway was ratified by all five nations, kick-starting the
development of a 6-lane super highway along the corridor31. The treaty includes the final institutional
design, legal framework and the communication materials for the Abidjan – Lagos Corridor
Management Authority (ALCoMA)32. It was agreed that ALCoMA will play a ‘full managerial role’ in the
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Trade-and-Transport-Facilitation-Program-APL-2-P116323-Sequence-No-10.pdf.
30
economic-growth-in-west-africa-16078/.
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