The construction works on the Trans-Saharan road are expected to be completed in June this year at the latest. This is according to Farouk Chiali, the acting Minister of Public Works and Transport in the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria.
“By June this year at the latest, there will be the total completion of the construction of the trans-Saharan axis between Algiers, the capital city of Algeria, and Lagos the capital city of Nigeria”, declared the Algerian minister on radio channel 3.
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He further explained that a ceremony will be organized in Niger to celebrate the successful implementation of the road project.
An overview of the Trans-Saharan road corridor
The Trans-Saharan road, or simply “The Trans-Saharan”, is a 4,800 km road that runs between North Africa (bordered by the Mediterranean Sea in the north), and West Africa (bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the south), from Algiers in Algeria through Niamey, the capital city of Niger to Lagos in Nigeria to be precise.
It is part of the more or less well-defined network project of major trans-African roads linking six countries, which are Algeria, Tunisia, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Nigeria. This project was launched back in the 1960s after which a Liaison Committee was formed to oversee its implementation.
According to Mohammed Ayadi, the Secretary-General of the Liaison Committee of the Trans-Saharan Road (CLRT), this project comes as a result of the desire of the Heads of the CLRT member states (Algeria, Tunisia, Niger, Mali, Chad, and Nigeria) to increase the volume of intra-African trade which remains as low as 3%.
