• €200m approved to modernize the Tafiré–Ferkessédougou section of national road A3
• Project targets a key link between the port of Abidjan and the Sahel
• Investment builds on earlier IsDB-backed road projects in northern Côte d’Ivoire

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has approved €200 million in financing for Côte d’Ivoire to modernize the Tafiré–Ferkessédougou section of national road A3. Spanning 574 km, the route is one of the strategic segments of the Abidjan–Ouagadougou corridor, the main road link between the Ivorian coast and landlocked Sahelian countries, including Burkina Faso and Mali.

A vital corridor for regional trade

The Tafiré–Ferkessédougou section ensures the continuity of traffic flows between central and northern Côte d’Ivoire before extending toward the border with Burkina Faso. It carries a significant share of freight traffic linking the port of Abidjan to the Sahelian hinterland, notably agricultural products, construction materials, and consumer goods. Its modernization is intended to ease one of the main bottlenecks along the Abidjan–Ouagadougou corridor, whose performance remains critical to Côte d’Ivoire’s logistical competitiveness against rival corridors in the subregion, including those running through Tema, Lomé, and Cotonou.

Beyond improving driving conditions, the project aims to cut travel times and reduce vehicle operating costs. On this heavily used freight corridor, road quality and accident risks directly affect logistics costs borne by transport operators and businesses. The new financing fits into a broader investment drive. In September 2024, the Ivorian government said it had secured a CFA119.5 billion loan, or about $213.9 million, from IsDB to build 54.2 km of dual carriageway between Bouaké and Darakokaha, near Katiola.

Taken together, these successive investments reflect Côte d’Ivoire’s step-by-step approach to delivering a continuous highway corridor between Abidjan and Ouagadougou, seen as central to regional economic integration and the country’s logistics competitiveness. Burkina Faso has also moved on its side of the corridor, launching this week the construction of the 332 km Ouagadougou–Bobo-Dioulasso highway, another critical section for linking the two capitals.

Henoc Dossa