Route Dapaong-Ponio: Modern infrastructure ready for reception

The long-awaited shortcut from Dapaong to the Burkina Faso border via Kompienga is now a reality. This section, developed and built by EBOMAF according to international standards, has been carrying some of the traffic on the Togolese corridor for some time.

The dismantling of the Korbongo base camp more than two months ago marks the completion of the Dapaong-Ponio construction project. For a long time, it took three to four hours to travel the thirty-eight (38) kilometers connecting these two towns to the Burkina Faso border (Kompienga). The road was so impassable in every respect. This ordeal is now a distant memory.

 Today, the journey between the two towns takes only twenty (20) to thirty (30) minutes. This also represents a saving of eighty (80) kilometers for users of this junction. "For those familiar with this stretch of road, there is much to celebrate, given the immensity of the task and the quality of the work accomplished to achieve what we can see today with complete satisfaction. The Savanna region has been freed from a bottleneck that has long hampered the mobility of its population and the flow of goods," acknowledges a teacher stationed in Tangamonté.

EBOMAF has just transformed the old defective and capricious road into a modern infrastructure: "a road ten (10) meters wide in open country and thirteen (13) meters wide in built-up areas constructed with a stabilized laterite foundation layer and a five (5) centimeter thick bituminous concrete (BB) wearing course."

The various towns and villages along the route have benefited from a basic sanitation system, consisting of hundreds of meters of drainage ditches and even a paved bypass in the village of Korbongo. The urban character of the city of Dapaong has improved, with all the amenities befitting a major boulevard, thanks to this road project.

EBOMAF has delivered a truly modern infrastructure project in this northern part of Togo. The crossing points are no longer a hindrance on this route. Four bridges, three of which are pile-supported, have been built. The Ponio bridge, on the border with Burkina Faso, is eighty (80) meters long and particularly impressive. The environmental restoration is evident in the reforestation efforts taking place along the entire route. Socio-economic benefits, such as boreholes and water reservoirs, have also been provided to neighboring villages.

A short distance from Dapaong, the brand-new tollbooth awaits operation, while in Ponio, Togolese customs officials are ready. The Dapaong-Ponio-Burkina Faso border road is expected to be officially opened in the coming days. This infrastructure project in the Savanes region has already signaled sub-regional integration. "Part of the traffic heading towards Niger, eastern Burkina Faso, and the north is starting to shift to this route. More than three hundred trucks are registered daily, not counting other vehicles," a customs officer at the Ponio border post confided. This new road will thus strengthen trade within the sub-region.

JE