West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)/UEMOA comprises six (6) organs, the WAEMU Commission being the executive organ thereof, as mandated by the revised treaty. The WAEMU Commission implements the decisions of the WAEMU Council of Ministers, defines policies and programmes, executes the budget of the Union, draws up reports on the functioning and evolution of the Union and elaborates policies and the action programme. In its capacity as the Union’s policy implementation body, the WAEMU Commission is the guarantor of the performance of the Union’s actions through the relevance of the selected programmes implemented, their proper execution and the guarantee of admissibility. It comprises several Departments implementing sectoral policies.

The community road network of the WAEMU area selected in the PACITR (Programme d’Actions Communautaire des Infrastructures et du Transport Routier – Community Action Program for Infrastructure and Road Transport) comprises 27 community roads. It has a total length of 20,933 km, which allows for more than 90% of inter-state trade in goods. For the financing of this programme, the resource mobilisation strategy essentially requires a precise evaluation of the needs in financial resources, the marketing of planned actions and the development of partnerships with donors. In order to better justify the relevance of this programme to the technical and financial partners who have strongly contributed to the elaboration of the PACITR, the real value of the assets of this community road network must be mastered. It is in this context that the Commission has decided to launch a reflection to explore all the modes and sources of financing aimed at meeting the financing needs of road infrastructures.

The general objective of the Technical Assistance was to support the DATCC/UEMOA Infrastructure Directorate in carrying out two technical studies:

Study 1 Evaluation of heritage of the WAEMU community road network (main corridors) including airports;

Study 2 Investigation of all innovative methods and sources of financing to be allocated to road maintenance work and development of the Union’s Community road network.

For these two studies, the Consultant relied on the study carried out in 2015 by the Western African Development Bank (WADB) on the theme “Study on road maintenance in the countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union: Review of the last 50 years and outlook”.

The aim of the first study was to assess the real value of the Union’s road assets, in terms of construction, maintenance and investment costs, residual value (the network has reached the age limit in many cases) for the development of the Community road network.

The second study investigated all innovative modes and sources of funding for the preservation and development of the Union’s Community road network.

The services included technical assistance and advice to the UEMOA to support the overall development of the themes concerned by the studies in heritage evaluation and innovative financing. This support took the form of advice provided by the head of mission to the services through communication messages, specific notes and opinions, as well as leadership, pedagogy and guidance provided around the study reports. 

Study 1 Evaluation study of the heritage of the WAEMU community road network 

• The assessment of the real current value of the Union’s road assets
• The assessment of the costs necessary for its maintenance and development
• The proposal of a mechanism for the regular evaluation of this heritage, as well as the definition of related indicators
• The assessment of the economic and social impact of these investments on trade and regional integration, in terms of trade opportunities and poverty reduction

Study 2 Study on Innovative Financing for the preservation and development of WAEMU’s road heritage 

• Identification of existing modes and sources of funding
• Analysis of the performance of the current system
• Carrying out investigations with a view to identifying potential breeding grounds for innovative funding
• Proposing a strategy and methods for mobilising these funding pools and a monitoring and evaluation system assessing the level of funding absorption
• The prior completion of a review of the existing regulatory texts on the occupation of the public domain in the different States
• The submission of a communication-awareness plan for the occupants of the public road domain to encourage their contributions to financing
• Examination of the legal constraints attached to the mobilisation of innovative funding
• The organisation of a workshop to present the results of the studies and to exchange with the technical and financial partners of the sector.