ECOWAS‘S INFRASTRUCTURE: A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE Evidence collected over the years points to other significant delays encountered while transporting imports or exports from landlocked countries to coastal countries or vice versa. These delays come in the form of random checkpoints. Truckers routinely pay large bribes to get past these checkpoints. The route between Ouagadougo to Bamako has the highest density of checkpoints, around three per 100 kilometers (or 30 stops along the entire route). The Malian portion of the corridor is the worst, five stops per 100 kilometers (or 22 stops along the route). The lowest number of checkpoints per 100 km (1.8) is in Togo. Inspections also increase the time associated with moving along corridors. Inspections along the TemaOuagadougou at the border are reportedly very long, taking around four hours in Burkina Faso and seven in Ghana (West Africa Trade Hub 2010).

Reports indicate that the highest bribes are paid in Côte d‘Ivoire along the routes between Abidjan and Ouagadougou (1,263 kilometers) and Abidjan to Bamako (920 kilometers), the former being the worst among those monitored (West Africa Trade Hub 2010b).<sup>3</sup> Bribe payments along the AbidjanOuagadougou corridor amount to $185.27, or more than $14 per 100 kilometers. More than $120 of that amount is paid in Côte d‘Ivoire. Similarly, drivers along the corridor from Abidjan to Bamako pay almost $150 in bribes, and about $95 of this total is reportedly paid in Côte d‘Ivoire. Various studies provide slightly different estimates for the extent of the bribery, but there is no doubt that corruption and informal payments impose a huge economic burden by raising costs (box 2.1).

# **Box 2.1 Racketeering and bribery along the roads of Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Ghana**

A recent study by the World Bank, in coordination with the government of Côte d‘Ivoire, revealed racketeering by Ivorian security forces that has created serious roadblocks along the country‘s transport corridors. The roadblocks constitute enormous obstacles to free movement of goods and people and have caused large economic losses and social distress. In Abidjan, before 2008, about 70 percent of communal taxis ( _woroworo_ ) and minibuses ( _gbaka_ ) had to stay off the roads for lack of proper documents. Lack of documents often prompted racketeering.

Apart from its negative impact on economic activity, racketeering costs transport operators in Côte d‘Ivoire between $230 and $363.3 million annually. Along the Abidjan-Agboville road, minibuses take 90 minutes to cover 85 kilometers, and drivers paid $31.50 in illegal bribes to defense and security forces. The bribes collected each year by the authorities vary between $173.6 and $456 million for passenger transport and between $54.8 and $68.5 million for transport of goods. One encounters from 4 to 10 roadblocks per 100 km. Racketeering results in delays of as much as 30 minutes on the main highways at each checkpoint.

The government of Cote d‘Ivoire has started a program to crack down on this problem, and results are already apparent (Alami 2010).

The so-called onion corridor—the route between Burkina Faso and Ghana that is used to transport onions from Niger and Burkina Faso—also records high levels of bribes. Uniformed officials use the perishable nature of the products transported to extort money from carriers and traders. Corrupt agents realize that additional delays can seriously deteriorate the quality of the perishable freight. Rather than losing time at barriers, drivers pay hefty bribes to get through the checkpoints faster.

Source: Alami 2008; West Africa Trade Hub 2010c.

> 3 Corridors monitored by the Road Harassment Initiative (a part of West Africa Trade Hub) include TemaOuagadougou, Ouagadougou-Bamako, Lomé-Ouagadougou, Bamako-Dakar, Abidjan-Ouagadougou, and AbidjanBamako.

26