The 120-metre Alemondji bridge has been built as part of the renovation of the roads on the CU9 corridor linking Lomé, Cinkansé and Ouagadougou, ensuring improved agricultural market access for inputs and products in the region
The US$325mn road project was 70 per cent financed by the African Development Fund, the concessional funding arm of the African Development Bank (AfDB), and by the Fragile States Facility.
Work was carried out on 150km of road in Togo and a further 153km in Burkina Faso. On the Togolese side, the Atakpamé-Blitta (102km) and Blitta-Aouda (48km) sections were renovated, 55km of rural feeder roads were improved, and the Alemondji bridge was rebuilt.
Since the road rehabilitation, there has been an increase in traffic to and from Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali to two million tonnes of goods per year since 2016. Travel times between the Burkinabe capital of Ouagadougou and the port of Lomé halved from six to three days between 2011 and 2016.
“This infrastructure ensures a flow of agricultural production and improved access to markets for inputs and products. It stimulates the economy and facilitates the region's integration into the national and international economies,” said Georges Bohoussou, AfDB’s country manager in Togo.
Bohoussou further added that the CU9 road project had put an end to the isolation of the agricultural communities of Gbécon and Morétan and had improved the supply of drinking water for 15 neighbouring villages. To improve women's incomes, the project renovated and extended the international market at Anié and the weekly market at Doufio in northern Togo.