IN SHORT: The African Union confirmed today that South Africa will host the 5th Session of the AU Specialised Technical Committee on Transport and Energy in Johannesburg from April 27 to 30. The session will deliberate on the $15 billion Abidjan-Lagos Highway, the African Single Electricity Market, and a new continental ten-year infrastructure investment plan.
South Africa will host the African Union’s highest ministerial platform on transport and energy from April 27 to 30 in Johannesburg, where ministers from across 55 member states will set strategic direction on the $15 billion Abidjan-Lagos Highway, continental electricity market integration, and climate finance mobilisation for infrastructure.
The AU Commission confirmed the session today, describing it as taking place at a defining moment for Africa’s infrastructure development trajectory.
- The $15 billion Abidjan-Lagos Highway, spanning over 1,000 kilometres through Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, is the flagship item on the agenda. The project falls under the AU’s Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa and would link five of West Africa’s most economically active coastal cities by road for the first time at international standard.
- The African Single Electricity Market, which targets a unified continental framework for cross-border electricity trade, is a second major agenda item. Continental electricity access has risen from approximately 51% in 2017 to over 61% in 2023, connecting more than 120 million additional people, but the pace must accelerate to meet rising demand.
- Ministers will also consider the Africa Ten-Year Infrastructure Investment Plan for Cross-Border Connectivity, aimed at scaling coordinated investments in strategic regional corridors across transport, energy and digital infrastructure.
- The Ubuntu Legacy Initiative and new governance mechanisms for climate finance in transport and energy projects will also be tabled for adoption.
- Africa currently receives only 5% of global infrastructure investment despite hosting 18% of the world’s population. The continent requires an estimated $130 to $170 billion annually in infrastructure spending just to sustain current growth trajectories.
The timing of the session is deliberately ambitious. Africa’s infrastructure gap is widening as population growth outpaces construction. The $15 billion Abidjan-Lagos Highway alone would reshape intra-African trade along the continent’s most commercially dense coastal corridor, integrating markets that currently move goods by sea, air or informal cross-border routes. A completed highway linking Abidjan, Accra, Lomé, Cotonou and Lagos would create a connected economic zone of over 80 million people.
The Bigger Picture: Infrastructure is the AfCFTA’s missing variable. The agreement creates the legal framework for continental free trade. The roads, railways, ports and power lines determine whether that framework translates into actual commerce. The AU ministerial in Johannesburg is where the political will gets tested against investment timelines. For CEOs and investors watching West Africa, the Abidjan-Lagos Highway decision is the one that matters most. A committed construction timeline on a 1,000-kilometre highway through five countries would be the most consequential infrastructure announcement in West Africa since the Akosombo Dam.
