afrol News, 11 July - A hitherto minor road connection between Niger and Burkina Faso is to be upgraded to create a second major overland link between the two countries. If created, the Dori-Téra connection would link northern Burkina Faso with Niger and also improve the connections between Niger and Mali.

The Dori-Téra road is the only section of the Ouagadougou - Kaya - Dori - Téra - Niamey inter-states highway not yet developed. Its present condition is an obstacle to the pastoral and agricultural resources development of part of the Liptako-Gourma region and to local and international traffic.

Thus, according to the Burkinabe and Nigerien governments, the generalised poverty that characterizes this region is partly attributed to the quasi-inaccessibility of this area and hence its isolation.

The African Development Fund (ADF) today approved a grant amounting to US$ 1 million to finance the development study of the road section of an approximate length of 100 km linking the locality of Dori in Burkina Faso to that of Téra in Niger. If the study ends at a positive conclusion, the road will be build.

According to ADF, the goal of the study was to contribute to the improvement and strengthening of roads promoting integration. Its specific objective was to propose the most appropriate road development solution and prepare detailed engineering studies on the level of development chosen.

The first phase of the study consists in determining the feasibility of the project on the basis of an in-depth study of socio-economic and environmental aspects, a preliminary design study which will carry out the alignment works, the optimum solution and the estimated project cost.

The second phase of the study involves carrying out detailed engineering studies on developments (best solution) that will have been decided upon by the governments of Burkina Faso and of Niger in consultation with the Bank on completion of the first phase. The main activities provided for in this phase are the preparation of a detailed preliminary design document and the preparation of bidding documents.

The idea of imptoving the Dori-Téra road is far from new. The so-called Liptako-Gourma Authority (LGA), a sub-regional institution created in December 1970 by the governments of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, initiated the development study of the road section linking the locality of Dori in Burkina Faso to that of Téra in Niger.

LGA's first and foremost mission is to promote the integrated development of the Liptako-Gourma region with a view to improving the living conditions of the population. Covering an area of 536,500 km2, the wide region of Liptako-Gourma, geographically consists of part of territories in Burkina Faso (57%), Mali (21%) and Niger (10%).

This is an area with a population of 14 million, of which nearly 20 percent is concentrated in urban centres, especially in the capitals of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Niamey (Niger), which form an integral part of the zone.

In the context of its mission, ALG has drawn up a vast programme of opening up the region, which is gradually implemented according to mobilised resources. Under this programme, three major priorities were retained: development and strengthening of inter-states major roads, improvement of feeder roads in production areas, particularly mining and agro-pastoral and establishment of a reliable telecommunications system.

The most important objective is, through these actions, to reduce poverty in the Liptako-Gourma area in general and in particular, in the project area, where more than 50 percent of the population live below the extreme poverty threshold.

The border areas between Niger and Burkina Faso however have increased in economic relevance during the last years due to several new discoveries of gold. Industrial gold mining is now to start on the Nigerien side of the border and has already started on the Burkinabe side. More gold bearing zones are expected to be found in the region.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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