Project Summary

Project General Description

The present project concerns the Trans-Sahara Highway (TSH), an infrastructure project at the center of economic, social, political and security stakes for the continent. The highway is localed on the Algiers/Lagos and Dakar/Djibouti trans-African corridors identified by the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) as priority projects for achieving NEPAD objectives by 2020. The TSH is 9.022 km-long and links six countries belonging to three out of the eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) of the African Union, namely: Algeria and Tunisia (AMU), Mali, Niger, Nigeria (ECOWAS) and Chad (ECCAS). It comprises the 4.498 km-long main road running from Algiers (Algeria) to Lagos (Nigeria) via Zinder (Niger), and three secondary roads branching from this major road: the Tunisian section (Ghardaia-Gabes), the Malian section (Tit-Kidal-Gao-Bamako) and the Chadian section (Zinder-Nguigmi-Daboua-Ngouri-Massakory-Ndjamena). Thus, the Trans-Sahara Highway (TSH) corridor runs through a part of the continent endowed with abundant wealth, including the fishery resources of Lake Chad, mineral resources such as the uranium being mined in Arlit (Niger), and underground resources such as natural gas and oil deposits in Southern Algeria. It is expected to play a central role in the development of these resources and, ultimately, contribute to the creation of conditions for improving their exploitation. The project implementation will have a significant positive impact on the activities of PIA residents, in general, and on those of women and young people, in particular, as it will improve their employability, increase their job opportunities in the public works and civil engineering sector and strengthen commercial activities thanks to an improved access to socio-economic infrastructure.To promote and support the construction of the various sections of this Corridor, the countries involved in the project established the Trans-Sahara Highway Liaison Committee (CLRT),which is based in Algiers. The project implementation period is 60 months and its total cost, net of taxes and customs duties, is estimated at UA 381.40 million. The Bank Group's contribution stands at UA 120.37 million, or 31.56% of the total project cost. Other donors include IDB, BADEA, BDEAC, KFAED, SFD, OFID and the three Governments of Algeria, Niger and Chad.

Project Objectives

The project's sector objective is to contribute to the development of trade by road and to the regional integration between AMU, ECOWAS and ECCAS, in general and Algeria, Niger and Chad, in particular. The project is expected to: (i) improve TSH's overall level of service and increase traffic and trade between North Africa, West Africa and Central Africa; (ii) reduce transport and logistics costs; (iii) improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of the Project Impact Area and their access to basic social services (drinking water, schools, health units, etc.); and (iv) contribute to the overall improvement of security in the Sahara region.

Beneficiaries

All users of the Trans-Sahara Road will directly or indirectly benefit from economic and social benefits, but mainly residents of the PIA, which comprises 32 regions crossed, 74 built-up areas served, spans an area of 4.4 million km² and has a population of 60 million inhabitants shared between Algeria, Tunisia, Mali, Niger, Chad and Nigeria.

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