More than 3 trillion FCFA have been invested since 2011 in the construction, extension, and modernization of the Ivorian road network, Prime Minister Robert Beugré Mambé affirmed on Monday, May 13, 2024, in Abidjan, at the Sofitel Hôtel Ivoire in Cocody.
He presided over the official opening ceremony of the 21st General Assembly of the Association of African Road Maintenance Funds (AFERA) on the theme “Towards sustainable financing of road funds for better maintenance of the African road network”, with 35 countries participating.
“From 2012 to 2023, the State of Côte d’Ivoire has committed more than 1,700 billion FCFA of work financed by the Road Maintenance Fund (FER) throughout the national territory, considerably improving the state of the road network as well as the conditions of circulation of goods and people, even in the most remote areas,” said Robert Beugré Mambé, representing the Vice-President of the Republic, Tiémoko Meyliet Koné.
He noted that the budgets allocated to the FER do not allow for covering the annual needs to properly maintain the entire road network. To address these resource shortfalls, he explained, Côte d’Ivoire has since 2014 taken the option of involving users in the financing of road maintenance where significant investments are made, through the operation of toll booths: “To date, we have 10 functional toll booths, nine of which are managed by the Road Maintenance Fund and one by the private sector.”
The Head of Government recalled that “Côte d’Ivoire today has a classified road network with a length of approximately 82,000 km, including 8,100 km of paved interurban roads. In addition to classified roads, the Ivorian road network includes 5,000 km of urban roads and a little over 200,000 km of unclassified rural roads.”
For the Prime Minister, in the face of the challenges of scarce financial resources and climate change, which significantly affects the lifespan of our roads, it is more than necessary to move towards sustainable and innovative sources of financing. “For the sustainability of road infrastructure in Africa, we expect from this meeting operational recommendations that will allow our respective governments to qualitatively improve the road network management indicators,” he said.
Several members of the government, including the Minister of Technical Education, Vocational Training and Apprenticeship, Koffi N’Guessan, representing his colleague Amédé Koffi Kouakou of Equipment and Road Maintenance, and personalities from AFERA member countries were present at this ceremony.
The President of AFERA, Ésaie Moussa Aubin, who is also the Director General of the FER of Cameroon, and the Director General of the Ivorian Road Maintenance Fund (FER), Annick Tohé Lasmel, were also present at this 21st GA, which is being held from May 13 to 16, 2024.
