ECOWAS‘S INFRASTRUCTURE: A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE month, versus 12,000 in the developed world, and undermines incentives for investing to improve service quality. Hence, the truck fleet is largely composed of poorly maintained second-hand trucks that are typically overloaded to obtain maximum revenues from their restricted usage. There is typically excess supply, with too many vehicles chasing modest overall freight volumes. In southern Africa, by contrast, a much larger share of freight traffic is allocated through competitive bilateral contracts between clients and shippers. These considerations make the liberalization of the trucking industry a key measure to improve regional surface transportation in West Africa. Indeed, until the regulatory framework for the trucking industry is modernized, there will be no real economic benefit from further improvements to the quality of road corridors.

The slow effective velocity of freight in West Africa can be explained in terms of numerous roadblocks and lengthy administrative delays at ports and border crossings. There is ample evidence of extensive delays at West Africa‘s land border crossings. Port processing times are also lengthy. In addition, a number of recent studies confirm that roadblocks (both formal and informal) are rampant on West Africa‘s major transit corridors. Ad hoc administrative hurdles, corruption, and other informal payment demands contribute to a high level of uncertainty in land transport. For example, a 2009 report from the U.S. International Trade Commission mentions that ―trucks in Ghana traveling from Paga (on the northern border with Burkina Faso) to Tema (on the Gulf of Guinea) take two to four days under normal conditions, but an estimated 10–20 percent of trucks are delayed by a week or more; moreover, if a truck breaks down on this route, it can take up to three weeks to procure a mechanic from Kumasi in south-central Ghana‖ (Christ and Ferrantino 2009).

ECOWAS‘s landlocked countries—Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger—each has more than one gateway to the sea, in contrast to landlocked countries in other regions of Africa (figure 2.2a). Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) has access to both Tema (Ghana) and Abidjan (Côte d‘Ivoire). Bamako (Mali) has access to both Dakar (Senegal) and Tema (Ghana). Niamey (Niger) has access to both Cotonou (Benin) and Lomé (Togo). The existence of multiple corridors provides choice and helps to create competition. Some studies indicate that in Western Africa, average clearance time is shorter than in other parts of Africa (Christ and Ferrantino 2009). For example, the time from a ship‘s arrival to its clearance in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) is limited to 10–15 days, which is comparable to, or better than, ports in other parts of the world. The relatively good performance is due in part to the competition between ports on the Gulf of Guinea to capture transit trade in ports (Christ and Ferrantino 2009; Arvis, Raballand, and Marteau 2009). The presence of multiple gateways also diversifies risk: During the disruption caused by the recent civil war in Côte d‘Ivoire, Burkina Faso was able to divert traffic via Ghana.

Two key corridors are also emerging in support of intraregional trade. ECOWAS‘s large number of small countries, makes for numerous borders within the region, so that trade facilitation looms large with respect to intraregional trade. The two key internal corridors that have emerged are the coastal corridor from Abidjan (Côte d‘Ivoire) to Lagos (Nigeria), and the Sahelian corridor running from Nouakchott (Mauritania) to N‘Djamena (Chad). The coastal corridor could in principle be extended all the way to Dakar (Senegal), but because so many countries along the route have just emerged from conflict, this corridor has not yet become a reality.

Regional corridors are typically paved and in reasonable condition, but there is evidence that coastal countries may be neglecting strategic hinterland routes. ECOWAS‘s seven key regional corridors are 19