Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has stated that he is planning to push for the mega construction of the Trans-African highway project that will include a 6,000 kilometre Mombasa-Lagos highway.
The Trans-African Highway project was launched in 1971 but failed to see light of day. It includes a network of nine highways which, when connected, will cover a combined total of 60,000 kilometers across the continent.
“One of them will stretch 8,000 kilometers between Cairo (Egypt) and Dakar (Senegal); another for 8,000 kilometers between Cairo and Cape Town; a third for 6,000 kilometers between Lagos and Mombasa; and a fourth for 4,700 kilometers between Dakar and Lagos (Nigeria),” says the former Prime Minister.
“That is the Trans-Sahelian Highway, which runs 4,500 kilometers between Dakar in Senegal and N’Djamena in Chad. Although the others are only partially finished, countries are progressively opening them section-by-section. It is just one example of what we plan to complete,” he said in his address at Duke University in the US.
Mr. Odinga said he will make use of his new position at the AU to have the road network implemented.
“I accepted the appointment as AU’s High Representative for Infrastructure Development Championing to spearhead the modernisation and upgrading of selected Trans African Highway Corridors and their missing links,” he said.