President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said the trans-Saharan highway project would continue to receive deserved attention and funding by his administration.
He said this would bolster economic activities and enhance regional and cultural integration in Africa.
President Buhari stated this at the opening of the 70th session of the Trans-Saharan Road Liaison Committee (TRLC) in Abuja with all the Ministers of Works from six member-states in attendance.
The meeting, which holds every four years, would review most of what had transpired in the 69th session and get an update on the works of the technical and expert works on the trans-Saharan roads.
President Buhari was represented by the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Dingyadi.
The President recalled that when he took over the mantle of leadership in 2015, his administration decided to introduce changes towards sustainable and quality infrastructural development that would drive economic development and job creation.
“Our commitment is to increase Nigeria’s stock of road infrastructure to ease the cost and time of doing business and improve on economic competitiveness, as envisaged under our Economic and Recovery Growth Plan.
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“In view of this, our administration shares the aspiration and vision of the trans-Saharan Road Liaison Committee aimed at encouraging member-countries to develop roads of trans-Saharan within their respective territories. “It is a pride to the African continent, and that is why Nigeria has supported and will continue to support its existence.
“Special funds had been committed to the reconstruction works on the sections of trans-Saharan roads from Lagos to Ibadan and Kaduna to Kano; other sections of the road, from Ibadan to Ilorin, Ilorin to Jeba, Jeba to Makwa and to Kaduna, are either being dualised or have been rehabilitated.”
He congratulated the trans-Saharan Road Liaison Committee for its tenacity and achievement in the past years.
President Buhari urged member-states and their representatives to remain committed to the prompt delivery of this crucial development of road transport infrastructure for the benefit our people.
Also, Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said 80 per cent of the 9,895-kilometre trans-Saharan highway, which passes through six African countries, has been asphalted. The countries are: Algeria, Tunisia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad.
Speaking at the 70th session of the Trans-Saharan Road Liaison Committee (TRLC) in Abuja, Fashola said the remaining 20 per cent, which is earth road, would be completed as soon as possible.
Representatives of the countries attended the event as well as the Secretary General of the TRLC, Mr Ayadi Mohammed.
Fashola said the road serves 37 regions in Africa, connects 74 urban centres and 60 million people across six countries who are members of the committee.
The road, the minister said, would encourage the integration of the region as well as open up limitless opportunities to the countries.
He said: “It is very useful for every African to be aware of the existence of a trans-African highway plan, which seeks to connect the whole of Africa – from Cape Town up to Tunisia – either by driving through the East African border or the West African border or through the centre of Africa.
“There is a coast-to-coast connectivity from the West to the East of Africa to the Northeast of Africa to the Northwest of Africa, and the Southwest of Africa to East Africa.
“A total of nine highways at different stages of connection are meant to achieve this connectivity. It is important for Nigerians to understand that three of these highways pass through the territory of Nigeria out of those nine.
“The first is the Lagos-Dakar highway, which passes through Seme border; from there to Dakar, Senegal. The second is the Lagos-Mumbasa, which links us through Yaounde in Cameroon. The third and the one about which we are gathered today is the Lagos-Algiers-Highway. “
“That road covers over 9,000 kilometres and 80 per cent of that road is now asphalted. It is important to contextualise that in what we all read about as the trans-Saharan trade road. This was the road of camels and horses.
“So, how much Africa has progressed now is that with the partnership of all of the men sitting here and all of the experts, 80 per cent of the roads used to be travelled by the camels and horses are now motorable. I think that is progress.
“That is how big the impact is. That is what I want Nigerians to understand that we are part of a large urban network of opportunities. If you appreciate that the roads of horses and camels are now the road of vehicles and trucks, you can imagine the opportunities that lie ahead as we converge here.”
Fashola added: “The entire 1,131 kilometres, which passes through Nigeria, is in different stages of development. We are expanding the section from Lagos to Sagamu on the Lagos-Ibadan axis of this route. This is because it is the busiest section of the road. It carries averagely 40,000 vehicles a day, out of which about 5,000 are trucks. We are also working on the Abuja-Kano highway, which is another very busy section that carries a similar vehicular traffic and we are at different stages of progress along all these highways.
“The recent signing by the President of the African Continental Free Trade Area shows clearly that we are on the right track. We are now ready to harness the opportunities that our investment in this road offers. We are ready to integrate into the big African family of which we are being a major player. We are ready to integrate culturally as well.
“More importantly, we are committed to ensuring we do so very safely for all of the people who use that road. The Federal Executive Council (FEC), just last week, approved that Nigeria should ratify and domesticate the African Road Safety Charter, which was adopted at the ordinary session of African Union (AU) Commission in January 2016 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“This means a commitment to more safety, more humanitarian issues, more life-saving capacities, prevention of road traffic accidents on this highway.”
Director of Highways Planning and Development in the ministry Mr Chukwunike Uzo said the aim of the trans-Saharan road liaison committee, whose membership comprises the six countries when it was formed in 1966, was to establish a road link across the six countries to encourage growth, socio economic activities, development, cooperation and trade.
“The entire stretch of the road is 9,895 kilometres. In Algeria, the length of the sub-Saharan is 3,320 kilometres; in Mali, it is 2,180 kilometres; in Niger, it is 1,985 kilometres; in Tunisia, it is 699 kilometres. In Nigeria, it is 1,131 kilometres and in Chad, it is 570 kilometres,” he said.
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