Prollo, 28th October 2026 — His Excellency Dr Khare Diouf, Resident Representative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Côte d’Ivoire, led a delegation from the Organisation on a monitoring visit to the construction site of the bridge over the River Cavally in Prollo, Côte d’Ivoire.

This visit formed part of the mission organised from 27^th to 29^th October 2026 by the Office of the Minister of State for African Integration and Ivorians Abroad. It enabled the Resident Representative, who took up his post on 1^st September 2026, to assess the progress of this ECOWAS project linking Côte d’Ivoire to Liberia and to discuss with stakeholders the conditions for continuing the works.

The day began with a courtesy visit to Mr Yao Kouakou Firmin, Prefect of the Tabou department, before continuing with a technical visit to the construction site on both the Ivorian and Liberian sides of the river.

Those taking part in this visit included Dr Kazilé Timothée, technical adviser to the Deputy Minister responsible for African Integration and Ivorians Abroad, the representative of the Liberian Ministry of Infrastructure, as well as representatives from AGEROUTE, the Côte d’Ivoire Transport Flow Observatory (OFT) and Côte d’Ivoire Énergies (CI-Énergies).

On this occasion, SCEGC Ltd, the contractor responsible for the works, and the supervision firm AIM Consultants Ltd presented the progress of the project and the difficulties encountered.

The reports highlighted significant progress on the Liberian bank. On the Ivorian bank, despite the clearance of the right-of-way and the compensation paid to the affected communities, the works continue to be hampered by supply constraints linked to rising water levels and operational difficulties with the ferry. Technical obstacles to the drilling of certain piles in the riverbed were also reported.

Discussions centred on potential technical solutions, improving the transfer of materials between the two banks, and monitoring the settlement of accounts. On this occasion, the Prefect invited the contractor to present, by the end of November, the measures envisaged to facilitate the continuation of the works, in particular the construction of the temporary bridge.

As part of the project’s supporting measures, CI-Énergies, for its part, reported that the cabling work had been completed and announced that electricity supply would commence in the first week of November 2026.

On the sidelines of the mission’s activities, the delegation, led by the Prefect of Tabou, took part in a ceremony to hand over the keys to a three-classroom building – donated by the Transport Flow Observatory (OFT) – to the Headteacher of Prollo State Primary School.

Following these various activities, the mission’s findings will form the basis for consultations between ECOWAS and the stakeholders on the continuation of the works and the conditions required to set a date for the foundation-laying ceremony. This infrastructure is intended to strengthen connectivity between Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia and to facilitate cross-border trade, thereby promoting regional integration.