# Abidjan-Lagos highway authority appoints its first board chair as West Africa's US$15.6bn corridor enters operational phase
> ALCoMA, the management authority for the 1,028km six-lane highway linking Abidjan to Lagos across five countries, inducted its first board of directors in February 2026 and appointed Beninois economist Wilfried Lauriano do Rego as chair in June

**Meta:** type: event · date: 2026-06-11 · heads: اللعبة الطويلة, أموال من · 7 takes · 1 lenses · 5 regions

## Summary

The Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Management Authority (ALCoMA), the inter-governmental body created by [Ivory Coast](/ar/entity/ivory-coast), Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria to build and operate the 1,028km six-lane highway linking Abidjan to Lagos, inducted its 10-member board of directors in Abidjan on 19-20 February 2026, formally ending a preparation phase that had stretched since the project's 2021 inter-governmental agreement. At an inaugural board meeting in Lagos on 11-12 June 2026, the directors appointed Beninois finance economist Wilfried Lauriano do Rego as ALCoMA's first two-year chair. The corridor's total project cost is estimated at US$15.6bn, financed through a public-private partnership model with capital from the African Development Bank and ECOWAS blended with private concession investment. Construction is planned to commence in 2026 with a target completion of 2030. Ivory Coast hosts ALCoMA's headquarters in Abidjan. The project is projected to create approximately 70,000 construction jobs across the five countries. A European Union-supported business forum held in Abidjan on 30 March to 1 April 2026 sought to mobilise private investment for the corridor alongside the parallel Abidjan-Ouagadougou route.

## The split

West African governments and regional development banks present the corridor as transformative for intra-African trade, which is stifled by customs delays and poor road infrastructure along the existing coastal route where freight takes up to a week to move from Lagos to Abidjan. Independent analysts at Jeune Afrique note the project has a history of announced phases that did not produce ground-breaking, dating back to 2013, and question whether the governance structure now in place with ALCoMA can actually discipline five sovereign governments and their concession contractors to a 2030 delivery date. Nigerian business media focus on the economic case for the Lagos terminus, which would reduce transport costs for a manufacturing corridor that includes Lekki Industrial Zone and the Dangote petrochemical complex.

## By the numbers

- 1,028km, the total highway length from Abidjan to Lagos across five countries
- US$15.6bn, the estimated project cost
- 70,000, projected construction jobs across the five countries
- 10 members, ALCoMA's board of directors inducted February 19-20, 2026
- 2030, the targeted completion date
- 5 countries, the corridor passes through: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria

## Why it matters

The Abidjan-Lagos corridor is the economic spine of coastal West Africa. The region's roughly 350 million people are connected by a coastal highway that is degraded, heavily tolled and managed by five separate national customs systems that add 5-7 days and 30-40% to cross-border freight costs. If ALCoMA can actually build and manage a modern highway under a single concession framework, it would be one of the largest functional demonstrations of African regional integration since the Bangui Agreements. The EU's active involvement in investment mobilisation also reflects the bloc's broader strategy to counter Chinese infrastructure lending by packaging West African corridors into blended finance structures that European development banks can co-invest.

## What to watch

- Whether construction contracts for the first section are signed in 2026 as ALCoMA's inaugural board has planned.
- Private investment mobilisation from the March 2026 Abidjan forum and whether European development banks commit capital alongside the AfDB.
- Cross-border customs harmonisation: building the road is the easier half; getting five customs systems to operate under common procedures is the hard part.
- Project governance: whether ALCoMA's 10-member board can enforce construction schedules on five sovereign governments with competing priorities.

## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### unlabelled
- **African Development Bank (board induction)** (Global, en) — AfDB and ECOWAS formally inducted ALCoMA's 10-member Board of Directors in Abidjan on February 19-20, 2026, marking the corridor's transition from the preparation phase to its operational phase under the 2021 Inter-Governmental Authority agreement.
  > "Mega Abidjan-Lagos corridor project enters operational phase: launch of governing board."
  Source: https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/press-releases/mega-abidjan-lagos-corridor-project-enters-operational-phase-launch-governing-board-91138
- **African Development Bank (chair appointed)** (Global, en) — At its inaugural meeting in Lagos on June 11-12, 2026, the ALCoMA Board appointed Beninois finance expert Wilfried Lauriano do Rego as its first two-year chair, setting the strategic direction for the project's construction phase.
  > "Abidjan-Lagos highway megaproject enters new phase: authority board meets and appoints chair."
  Source: https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/press-releases/abidjan-lagos-highway-megaproject-enters-new-phase-authority-board-meets-and-appoints-chair-94873
- **ECOWAS (project overview)** (West Africa, en) — ECOWAS official project page for the Abidjan-Lagos highway, detailing the 1,028km six-lane route through Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, ALCoMA's mandate, and the PPP financing structure under the 2021 inter-governmental agreement.
  Source: https://highwayabb.ecowas.int/about-the-project/
- **BusinessDay Nigeria (operational phase)** (Nigeria, en) — Nigeria's BusinessDay reports the Abidjan-Lagos highway entering its operational phase with the formal inauguration of the ALCoMA governing board, and covers the significance of the Lagos node as the corridor's eastern terminus.
  > "Lagos-Abidjan highway project enters operational phase."
  Source: https://businessday.ng/news/article/lagos-abidjan-highway-project-enters-operational-phase/
- **BusinessDay Nigeria (project explainer)** (Nigeria, en) — Detailed BusinessDay explainer on the $15.6 billion corridor, its PPP financing model, the country-by-country breakdown of the 1,028km route, projected 70,000 jobs during construction, and the timeline to a 2030 completion target.
  > "What to know about the $15.6bn Lagos-Abidjan highway corridor."
  Source: https://businessday.ng/transport/article/what-to-know-about-the-15-6bn-lagos-abidjan-highway-corridor/
- **Fraternité Matin** (Ivory Coast, fr) — Fraternité Matin covers the EU-Regional Business Forum on West African Corridors in Abidjan, March 30 to April 1, 2026, aimed at mobilising private capital for the Abidjan-Lagos and Abidjan-Ouagadougou corridors, with Ivory Coast hosting the principal secretariat of ALCoMA.
  > "Forum d'affaires UE-corridors régionaux d'Afrique de l'Ouest, investisseurs et institutionnels à Abidjan."
  Source: https://www.fratmat.info/article/2640203/economie/cooperation-multilaterale/forum-daffaires-ue-regional-corridors-dafrique-de-louest-investisseurs-et-institutionnels-a-abidjan-du-30-mars-au-1er-avril
- **Jeune Afrique** (France, fr) — 
  Source: https://www.jeuneafrique.com/1697322/economie-entreprises/initiative-atlantique-corridor-abidjan-lagos-la-revolution-de-linterconnexion-est-elle-vraiment-atteignable/

## Across the graph
- Entities: Ivory Coast

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Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/ar/n/ivory-coast-abidjan-lagos-highway