Africa’s Connectivity Moment: Can the Trans-African Highway Finally Unlock AfCFTA Trade?

More than fifty years after it was first envisioned by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in 1971, the Trans-African Highway (TAH) network is again at the centre of continental economic debate. Originally conceptualised as a nine-corridor, pan-continental road system linking North, West, East, Central and Southern Africa, the network spans approximately 56,000 kilometres across over 40 countries. Supported by UNECA, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the African Union, the project was designed to provide the physical backbone for African integration long before the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) became a reality.

Today, the question is no longer whether Africa needs roads. The question is whether infrastructure expansion is being strategically aligned with trade reform, industrial policy and regional value chain development.

Infrastructure remains one of the most binding constraints on intra-African trade. According to the African Development Bank’s African Economic Outlook, transport costs in Africa are among the highest in the world, particularly for landlocked economies, where logistics expenses can account for 30–40 percent of the value of traded goods. The World Bank has repeatedly found that poor transport connectivity and border inefficiencies can increase trade costs in Sub-Saharan Africa by up to 75 percent compared to global best-practice corridors. These structural frictions weaken export competitiveness and fragment regional markets.

Despite decades of continental ambition, intra-African trade still accounts for only about 15–18 percent of Africa’s total trade, according to data from the African Union and UNCTAD. This compares with roughly 60–70 percent in Europe and over 50 percent in Asia. The AfCFTA, which officially commenced trading in 2021, aims to change this trajectory by progressively reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers across 54 signatory states. However, tariff liberalisation alone cannot compensate for inadequate physical connectivity.

This is where the Trans-African Highway network becomes strategically significant.

UNECA assessments indicate that more than half of the planned TAH network is now paved, though completion levels vary significantly across corridors. The Trans-Sahelian Highway connecting Dakar to N’Djamena is considered largely complete, while major corridors such as Algiers–Lagos and Cairo–Cape Town are in advanced but uneven stages of development. However, completion statistics often mask critical deficiencies. Road quality, maintenance standards, axle-load control and cross-border coordination remain inconsistent, limiting the efficiency gains expected from physical expansion.

Financing remains another structural challenge. The African Development Bank estimates that Africa requires between USD 130 and 170 billion annually to meet its infrastructure needs, with a financing gap of approximately USD 68 to 108 billion per year. Transport infrastructure constitutes a substantial portion of this deficit. Although initiatives under the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) have prioritised strategic corridors, disbursement delays and uneven national implementation have slowed network integration.

Even where roads exist, trade does not automatically flow efficiently. The World Bank’s Doing Business and Logistics Performance Index data historically show that border crossing times in parts of Africa can exceed 48 hours, and in some corridors even longer. In contrast, well-functioning Asian and European corridors often clear cargo within hours. The cost of documentary compliance and border procedures in Sub-Saharan Africa remains among the highest globally. Without customs modernisation, digital trade facilitation and regulatory harmonisation, physical roads risk becoming underutilised transit pathways rather than engines of industrial integration.

The deeper strategic issue lies in the alignment between infrastructure and production capacity. Global evidence demonstrates that transport corridors unlock transformative growth only when paired with industrial clustering. China’s coastal logistics networks, India’s Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor and ASEAN’s production networks did not merely connect cities, they connected value chains. Infrastructure supported manufacturing expansion, export diversification and cross-border supply integration.

For Africa, the Trans-African Highway presents a similar opportunity. If aligned with AfCFTA-led value chains in automotive manufacturing, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals and mineral beneficiation, corridor development could accelerate regional production networks. The AfDB has consistently emphasised that infrastructure must support productive transformation rather than reinforce extractive export patterns. Without deliberate industrial policy coordination, improved highways could inadvertently facilitate greater imports of finished goods rather than intra-African industrial trade.

There is also a geopolitical dimension. As global supply chains recalibrate in response to geopolitical fragmentation and near-shoring strategies, Africa’s ability to position itself as an integrated production base will depend on reliable cross-border connectivity. Fragmented corridors undermine investment attractiveness. Integrated corridors strengthen it. Development finance institutions, sovereign funds and private investors increasingly assess corridor stability and logistics reliability when evaluating manufacturing and processing investments.

The Trans-African Highway is therefore more than a road network. It is a test of whether Africa can synchronise infrastructure finance, trade liberalisation and industrial strategy at continental scale. AfCFTA provides the legal framework. TAH provides the physical platform. What remains essential is execution discipline, harmonised standards, sustainable maintenance financing, border digitalisation and alignment with industrial zones and special economic clusters.

If properly integrated into continental production strategies, the TAH network could significantly reduce trade costs, expand regional markets and raise intra-African trade beyond its current 15–18 percent plateau. If implemented in isolation, it risks becoming an impressive but underleveraged transport map.

Africa stands at a rare convergence point: continental trade liberalisation is underway, corridor construction is accelerating, and development finance appetite remains strong. The next decade will determine whether the Trans-African Highway becomes the backbone of African industrial integration or remains a partially connected ambition conceived half a century ago.

The real question is not whether Africa can build roads. It is whether Africa can build integrated economic corridors that move goods, capital, and value across borders with the efficiency of a truly unified market.