The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development has announced approval of $100m in funding for the construction of a 47.7km stretch of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

This is a major boost to the Federal Government’s quest to deliver the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway by 2028. The  47.7km segment, designated as Section 1, Phase 1 of the project, starts from Ahmadu Bello Way in Lagos. Construction began in March 2024 and is being executed by Hitech Construction Company Limited.

The approval was part of a broader round of commitments announced during EBID’s 92nd ordinary session, where the bank disclosed that it had allocated a total of €174m and $125m for infrastructure and social development projects across West Africa.

It said the decision was made at the Board of Directors’ 92nd Ordinary Session meeting held on June 30, 2025. Our correspondent obtained a report from the meeting on Thursday.

EBID stated that the Lagos-Calabar highway funding is intended to enhance access across nine Nigerian states, improve connectivity to seaports and remote agro-industrial zones, and facilitate more efficient movement of goods and services along the southern economic corridor.

The project is also expected to help develop a regional value chain that supports the livelihoods of coastal communities. It said that this project, which spanned 47.7km, would link nine Nigerian states, improve access to seaports and isolated agro-industrial areas. EBID noted the funding would also contribute to the emergence of a regional value chain to help coastal communities.

The report read in part, “A $100m Lagos-Calabar coastal motorway project, in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This project, which spans 47.7km, will link nine Nigerian states, improve access to seaports and isolated agro-industrial areas, and contribute to the emergence of a regional value chain to help coastal communities.”

Other approved projects include a €50m investment for the construction and equipping of six technical and vocational education centres in Togo, aimed at training 3,480 youths annually in high-demand skills.

In Guinea, EBID committed €28.9m to modernise four agricultural high schools and an additional €95.16m for the construction of three hydroelectric micro-power stations with a combined capacity of 30MW, targeted at improving renewable energy access in rural areas.

In Côte d’Ivoire, $25m was approved to support clinker imports by Société de Ciment de Côte d’Ivoire to boost cement production and ease material shortages in the construction sector.

The bank noted that these investments align with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. With this latest round of approvals, EBID’s total financial commitments in West Africa have now exceeded $5 billion.

“These newly approved commitments are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 4 – Quality Education, SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy and SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, as well as EBID’s strategic plan to promote resilient, inclusive and sustainable growth and development in the ECOWAS region. With this investment, EBID’s total commitments to date in the sub-region amount to over $5bn,” It read.

Recall that the government commenced construction of the road in March 2024. The Minister of Works, David Umahi, recently disclosed that the Federal Government procured contracts worth over N3tn for sections of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway spanning Lagos, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River States.

Section I, which begins in Lagos, was procured at N1.068tn, with 30 per cent of the contract sum already disbursed. Section II, which includes several flyovers and crosses swampy terrain linking to the Dangote Refinery, was awarded at N1.6tn.

Additionally, Sections III A and III B, covering the Akwa Ibom and Cross River segments, were jointly procured at N1.33tn. President Bola Tinubu had in May 2025 commissioned the first completed section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

Efforts to get official confirmation and reaction from the Minister of Works proved abortive as the minister’s media aide, Orji Uchenna, didn’t respond to enquiries