Mombasa to Lagos highway proposed by African Union special envoy

A new highway connecting Kenya’s port of Mombasa with Nigeria’s commercial centre and main port of Lagos has been put forward by a special envoy to the African Union. The Kenyan opposition leader, Raila Odinga, was recently appointed to the post of special envoy to the African Union and announced the plan for a new transport connection between Mombasa and Lagos. This 6,000km route would provide an important economic link between two of Africa’s main ports. Although most of the route between Mombasa and
November 2, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
A new highway connecting Kenya’s port of Mombasa with Nigeria’s commercial centre and main port of Lagos has been put forward by a special envoy to the African Union. The Kenyan opposition leader, Raila Odinga, was recently appointed to the post of special envoy to the African Union and announced the plan for a new transport connection between Mombasa and Lagos.


This 6,000km route would provide an important economic link between two of Africa’s main ports. Although most of the route between Mombasa and Lagos is paved, the existing road connections are not able to cope with traffic needs and delays are frequent. An improved road connection between two of Africa’s most economically active nations, Kenya and Nigeria, would also provide a massive boost to trade and transport for the continent as a whole.

The project would however include far more road connections than the single route connecting the two ports and would in fact account for a total of 60,000km of new road links. This plan would form part of the Trans-African Highway project, first mooted as far back as 1971. It would also include the construction of new railway connections across the continent.

When the Trans-Africa Highway plan was proposed in 1971, it envisaged nine new highways across the continent. To date, only the 4,500km route connecting Dakar and N’Djamena in Chad has been completed.

And in addition to the 6,000km highway between Mombasa and Lagos would be an 8,000km route from Dakar in Senegal to Cairo in Egypt, as well as a 4,700km route between Dakar and Lagos. Stretches of the North African Highway between Dakar and Cairo have already been built, most notably those crossing Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. However sections remain to be built, with problems arising from the turmoil in Libya. Other hold-ups include the ongoing political issues between Morocco and Algeria that make border crossings between the two extremely difficult.

Finance & Funding

Related Content

  • Japanese loan for Botswana to Zambia bridge
    October 18, 2012
    A new bridge link will be constructed between Botswana and Zambia in Southern Africa. Some of the funding for the bridge is being provided in the form of a US$113 million loan from the Japanese Government. The Kazungula bridge project is expected to cost $260 million in all. Close to $78.5 million is coming from the African Development Bank and Zambia is providing $1.6 million while the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will offer $42 millionn. The work will commence in 2014 and the bridge sh
    Read More
  • Japan agrees to help Thailand on East-West Economic corridor work
    November 17, 2014
    Japan has agreed in principle to provide financial assistance to Thailand for road construction and upgrades in connection with the East-West Economic Corridor. The corridor is based on 1,450km of highway running across four Southeast Asian countries. The idea of investing in the corridor was originally proposed during a multi-national ministerial conference in Manila, Philippines, in 1998. Much of the route had been completed by 2010, according to review document by Asian Development Bank. It also noted t
    Read More
  • New bridge project to boost Myanmar-Thailand cross-border connectivity
    June 4, 2015
    The tender process is being planned for the Myanmar-Korea Friendship Bridge, which will connect Myanmar’s commercial centre Yangon to Dala Township. Over $137 million in loans have been pledged by the Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund to develop the 1.87km long suspension bridge. The tender process will be international and the work is due for completion by 2020. In all the project is expected to cost in the region of $168 million.
    Read More
  • Sandvik’s Turkish delight at groundbreaking tunnel vision
    May 20, 2014
    Turkey’s longest, and what will be the world’s fourth longest, highway tunnel is being built under Mount Ovit in the northeast of the country. Sandvik Construction is playing a vital role in the construction of the giant new structure, which will enable all-year-round access to what is a relatively remote and often snow-blocked part of Anatolia Having had their freedom of movement blighted for many years by wintertime snow blocking the D925 highway, along with narrower roads and passes, at Mount Ovit, resi
    Read More

Highlighted Content