By Princess-Ekwi Ajide, Abuja
The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, has organized a sensitization meeting for the Transport sector on the implementation of the ECOWAS Infrastructure Master plan
The ECOWAS sensitization workshop held in Accra Ghana was to present the Master plan to the Ministries in charge of Transport from ECOWAS Member States as well as Development Partners like the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development and Spanish Co-operation for International Development (AECID) to reflect on resource mobilization, coordination and implementation of the Master plan, especially in the transport sector.
The Conference of Heads of State had during the 60th Summit in December 2021 approved the ECOWAS Regional Infrastructure Master Plan for 2020-2045 and would comprise 201 regional projects at an estimated cost of 131 billion USD.
One of the accompanying measures of the Infrastructure Master plan is the need to initiate an awareness campaign to better promote the Plan among stakeholders including regional organizations so as to establish the Master Plan as the strategic and authoritative framework for infrastructure development in ECOWAS recognized by all stakeholders.
The opening ceremony was marked by a welcome speech by the Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Sediko Douka, who represented the President of the Commission, Dr Alieu Omar Touray and an opening speech by the Director of Policy and Planning, Madam Rita Ohene Sarfoh, on behalf of the Minister of Roads and Highway of Ghana.
The meeting was attended by the ECOWAS Member States and Development Partners.
Also in attendance were the representatives of the ECOWAS Commission and Specialized Agencies as well as the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) represented by the Vice President, Operations.
