[Minato ku]

Line 1 of the Abidjan Metro is one of the biggest projects of its kind in Africa. Construction has now started (it was officially launched by Alassane Ouattara and Emmanuel Macron at a ceremony in November 2017), and should be completed by 2022-2023.

Line 1 will be 37.5 km long, from the northern suburbs of Abidjan to the international airport in the south, via the central business district. It will have 20 stations in total.

The line will use automated trains with a driver present in the cabin (like Victoria Line in London, or Line 4 in Paris). Trains will run at up to 80 km/h, with a maximum possible frequency of one train every 100 seconds at peak hours due to the ATO (Automatic Train Operation) being used.

The line will be both at ground level and elevated (they are trying to avoid tunnels as much as possible to reduce costs), and fully grade-separated (own tracks separate from the roads, and crossing roads via bridges). A new brige will have to be built to cross the large lagoon of Abidjan (the 4th bridge, the 3 other ones being road bridges).

Overall the Abidjan Metro will resemble Johannesburg's Gautrain at lot in terms of trains used and infrastructure. It is expected to transport 500,000 passengers per day (180 million per year) after opening in 2022-2023, and 1 million per day by 2040.

Line 1 of the Abidjan Metro will cost 1.4 billion euros, entirely financed by France (French Treasury and French Development Agency), to be reimbursed by Côte d'Ivoire over the years, and it will be built by a French consortium (the South Koreans left the consortium last October).

When it opens in 2022-2023, the line will be operated by Keolis, the Franco-Québécois company which already operates many bus and light rail networks in France, as well as London's Docklands Light Railway, Stockholm's bus network, the Melbourne tramway network, Boston's MBTA Commuter Rail, the Hyderabad Metro in India, the future Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn in Germany, Shanghai Pudong Airport's people mover system, and many more.

Côte d'Ivoire's Ministry of Transportation has released this very interesting video which shows the route of Line 1, a map with the stations, as well as how the line will look across Abidjan. The bridge over the lagoon will require foundations going 90 meters below the ground to reach firm soil.

Abidjan had nearly 5 million inhabitants in 2016, up from 4.7 million at the 2014 census and 3.1 million at the 1998 census, and with the economic boom the population growth is probably going to remain strong. That's the context for the construction of this metro.

The Ivorian government is already planning a second line of the Abidjan Metro, which will run east-west, from Yopougon to Bingerville. So Line 1 is only the beginning of a full network.

 

[Jim856796]

A full year after the announcement of the start of its construction, and we have not seen any news or photos of the Abidjan Metro's construction progress at all. Disappointing.hno:

One question, though: Because they're wanting to keep costs to a minimum, wouldn't it be easier for this metro line to use the existing rail deck of the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Bridge instead of building an entirely new rail bridge?

 

[Ras Siyan]

CÔTE D'IVOIRE: LE PROJET PHARAONIQUE DU MÉTRO D'ABIDJAN LIVRÉ EN 2022​

Le Métro d'Abidjan est en passe de devenir une réalité. Le ministre Amadou Koné en a fait la confidence lors d'une rencontre avec la presse ivoirienne, ce jeudi 13 septembre.

Le Métro d'Abidjan, le projet suit son cours

Financés à hauteur de 1000 milliards de francs CFA, les travaux du Métro d'Abidjan ont été conjointement lancés par les Présidents Alassane Ouattara et Emmanuel Macron, le 30 novembre 2017. C'était en marge du 5e Sommet Union africain - Union européenne qui s'est tenu à Abidjan à cette date-là. Les présidents français et ivoirien mettaient alors un point d'honneur à voir réaliser ces travaux pharaoniques qui vont assurément désenclaver la capitale ivoirienne et permettre le déplacement quotidien de 300.000 Abidjanais.

Aussi, le ministre ivoirien des Transports, Amadou Koné, qui suit particulièrement les travaux, a levé un coin de voile sur l'avancée du projet. Invité de « Les grands rendez-vous de l’Expression » organisé par un quotidien ivoirien, l'émissaire du gouvernement a indiqué que la première ligne de ce train urbain sera livrée en 2022. Quant à la seconde ligne, les réflexions sont en cours pour la réalisation effective de l'ouvrage.

Notons que l'itinéraire précis de ce train urbain, long de 37 kilomètres, se définit comme suit : Anyama - PK 18 Agoueto (Abobo) - Avocatier / Sagbé Nord (Abobo) - Abobo gare (Abobo) - Humici (Adjamé) - Agban village (Attécoubé) - Plateau, boulevard de la Paix - Treichville, boulevard de Marseille - Biétry / Zone 4 (Marcory) - Port-Bouët nord.

the government emissary said that the first line of this urban train will be delivered in 2022. As for the second line, the reflections are ongoing for the effective realization of the work.

 

[Ras Siyan]

Abidjan Metro: The government announces a second line​

The government is "working on a plan to build Line 2" of the Abidjan metro. And, it will have to connect the commune of Yopougon to that of Bingerville, indicated this Wednesday, February 14, 2018, the Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, during its press conference report which took place in the Primature.

It will be remembered that the Ivorian and French heads of state, Alassane Ouattara and Emmanuel Macron, laid the foundation stone of this infrastructure on November 30, 2018. At a cost of 1.4 billion euros, it is a project that will allow the transport, every day, more than 500,000 Abidjan, from Anyama to Port-Bouet.

Metro d’Abidjan: Le gouvernement annonce une 2e ligne​

Le gouvernement «travaille pour un plan de réalisation de la ligne 2» du métro d’Abidjan. Et, elle devra relier la commune de Yopougon à celle de Bingerville, a indiqué ce mercredi 14 février 2018, le Premier ministre Amadou Gon Coulibaly, au cours de de sa conférence de presse bilan qui a eu lieu à la Primature.

On se rappelle que les chefs d’Etats ivoiriens et français, Alassane Ouattara et Emmanuel Macron, avaient procédé à la pose de la première pierre de cette infrastructure, le 30 novembre 2018. D’un coût de 1,4 milliard d’euros, il s’agit d’un projet qui va permettre le transport, chaque jour, plus de 500.000 Abidjanais, d’Anyama à Port-Bouët.

 

[Jim856796]

Two more questions:

If the Abidjan CBD (in Le Plateau) were to expand westward, will this necessitate the conversion of a couple of at-grade metro stations within that area into underground ones (like Plateau Lagune, Plateau Centre, and Adjame Délégation) to allow potential pedestrian access to the waterfront?

Also, about the proposed east-west second line, which of the Adjame stations of Line 1 would be a transfer/interchange to Line 2, Adjan or Délégation?

 

[Nexis]

So any recent photos?

 

[Olivilo]

So any recent photos?

Yes, the Ivorian authorities have created a dedicated website for the Métro of Abidjan: http://www.lemetrodabidjan.ci/

A Twitter feed was also opened last week: https://twitter.com/metro_abidjan

At the moment, the authorities are discussing with the residents of the plots of lands that need to be vacated in order to build the line. These people will have to be compensated and relocated. We're at phase 2 in the compensation process, and phase 3 is about to start.

A video from last December showing how the authorities meet with concerned residents in the various communes of Greater Abidjan:

The public in Adjamé:

At the National Library:

In Treichville:

Between January 16 and February 12, 2019, the limits of line 1's rail corridor was also marked with concrete posts all along the line in the 7 communes of Greater Abidjan that it will cross:

 

[popa1980]

So they havent even started yet?!

 

[Olivilo]

Work has started!

Realization of the Métro d'Abidjan project: SICAM starts construction works of a culvert in the Plateau district

The Société ivoirienne de construction du Métro d'Abidjan (SICMA), company in charge of building the Abidjan Metro network, is busy with works. As proof of that, it started in the Plateau district the construction of a 40-meter-long culvert under the existing railway, to protect and allow the passage of pipes from the Société de distribution d’eau de Côte d’Ivoire (SODECI, "Côte d'Ivoire Water Supply Company").

These works, it must be emphasized, are implemented as part of the utility networks' re-routing needed for the Line 1 project of the Abidjan Metro. Started since March 3, 2019 and carried out especially in the vicinity of the public primary school (EPP RAN), these works will last 30 days.

Despite the complexity of the work site, due to the presence of a high voltage line nearby, the company intends to build the culvert without negatively impacting rail traffic of the Société Internationale de Transport africain par rail (SITARAIL, "International Company of African Rail Transport").

It should be noted that the works are scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2019. The Société de Transport Abidjanais sur Rail (STAR, "Abidjan Rail Transport Company") is the project owner.

[...]

http://lemetrodabidjan.ci/actualite...ravaux-de-construction-de-dalot-au-plateau839

Abidjan Metro line 1: 250 utility network re-routing work sites for the protection of the existing underground utility networks

250, that's the number of work sites to be opened as part of the utility networks' re-rerouting on the Abidjan Metro's Line 1 section from the municipality of Anyama to Port-Bouët.

These are telecom networks, drinking water, wastewater, low and high voltage lines. For this work, several companies with facilities along Line 1 in the sector of drainage and sanitation, telecom, electricity, rail transport, and hydrocarbons will be impacted.

Approximately 50 Ivorian companies are involved in the implementation of works that will eventually generate 1500 jobs.

The Société ivoirienne de construction du Métro d'Abidjan (SICMA), the main company in charge of the project implementation, must carry out the work over a period of 12 months.

Utility network re-routing works started in December 2018. In total these works constitute a distance of "58,400 linear meters" (58.4 km). They represent an essential preliminary step in the construction of Line 1.

http://lemetrodabidjan.ci/actualite...-des-installations-souterraines-existantes229

Some more pictures:

 

[Nexis]

Impressive , is there a long term plan for the city?

 

[Olivilo]

^^Yes, there is the Schéma directeur d'urbanisme du Grand Abidjan (SDUGA, i.e. "Greater Abidjan Urban Development Masterplan"), which was drafted in 2014 and approved by a government decree in March 2016. The SDUGA plans the urban development of Greater Abidjan for the 2015-2030 period. It is inspired from the French tradition of urban planning (see for example the Schéma directeur de la région Île-de-France (SDRIF, i.e. "Paris Region Masterplan") which was adopted in 2013).

It is not Soviet-style planning where everything is decided centrally from A to Z, but the French tradition is more centrally organized than in the Anglo-Saxon world: the masterplans determine how urbanization should develop based on assumptions for population growth and future transport needs, and then they draw some maps for urban expansion, corridors of expansion for housing, transport, parks, etc, but within the general guidance of those maps the communes (municipalities) and private entrepreneurs still have a large degree of freedom (that's what makes it very different from Soviet planning), but they must respect the general guidelines of the plans (if there isn't too much corruption perverting things at a local level of course!). Lands can also be bought by the central planning authority long in advance to create what we call réserves foncières (preserved land), which means land preserved from anarchical urbanization in order to develop it later in a more coherent and organized way (which is better than having to evict and demolish shantytowns in the future). Of course in the past Abidjan wasn't always successful at preventing the development of illegal shantytowns, but every year they demolish illegal neighborhoods (it's called "déguerpissement" in the local lingo).

That's an example of déguerpissement in Abidjan, in 2014 (one lady in the video says "We've been here for 10 years. Where are we gonna go now?"):

The SDUGA has been drafted on the assumption that Greater Abidjan would reach 7.7 million in habitants by 2030.

You can read it here (508 pages): http://open_jicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/12230637_01.pdf

Here you have the limits of the Greater Abidjan area considered for the urban masterplan. In orange, red, and blue is the current extent of urbanization. In green the current extent of fields and forests. The scale at the bottom shows the length of 15 km.

And this below is the general planning map of the SDUGA, showing the extent of urbanization planned by 2030 (in yellow the low density suburbs), as well as the two lines of the Abidjan Métro planned. 7.7 million people should live within this area in 2030, that's the assumption. They also assume that the number of jobs in Greater Abidjan will grow from 1.9 million in 2014 to 3.0 million in 2030. The manufacturing, oil, and construction sectors in Greater Abidjan should grow by 67% (from 600,000 jobs in 2014 to 1 million in 2030). The service sectors (port, transports, government, finance, trade, etc) should grow by 71% (from 1.1 million jobs in 2014 to 1.9 million jobs in 2030). Farming and fishing should decrease (from 144,000 jobs in 2014 to 94,000 jobs in 2030).

The light grey dotted lines ("Ligne HT" in legend) show the existing and future high voltage power lines. Black lines are the existing and future main roads and expressways.

 

[Olivilo]

According to the official schedule, the preparatory works currently taking place will last until August 2019. Construction of the northern section of the Métro line properly speaking should start in August this year and end in May 2022. Trials will take place from February 2022 to August 2022, and this section of the line (from the northern terminus to the Plateau central business district) should start commercial operation in September 2022.

As for the southern section of the line (from the Plateau central business district to the international airport), works should end in September 2023, trial tests should take place from July to November 2023, and passengers should start to use the southern section at the very end of 2023.

 

[popa1980]

^^Yes, there is the Schéma directeur d'urbanisme du Grand Abidjan (SDUGA, i.e. "Greater Abidjan Urban Development Masterplan"), which was drafted in 2014 and approved by a government decree in March 2016. The SDUGA plans the urban development of Greater Abidjan for the 2015-2030 period. It is inspired from the French tradition of urban planning (see for example the Schéma directeur de la région Île-de-France (SDRIF, i.e. "Paris Region Masterplan") which was adopted in 2013).

It is not Soviet-style planning where everything is decided centrally from A to Z, but the French tradition is more centrally organized than in the Anglo-Saxon world: the masterplans determine how urbanization should develop based on assumptions for population growth and future transport needs, and then they draw some maps for urban expansion, corridors of expansion for housing, transport, parks, etc, but within the general guidance of those maps the communes (municipalities) and private entrepreneurs still have a large degree of freedom (that's what makes it very different from Soviet planning), but they must respect the general guidelines of the plans (if there isn't too much corruption perverting things at a local level of course!). Lands can also be bought by the central planning authority long in advance to create what we call réserves foncières (preserved land), which means land preserved from anarchical urbanization in order to develop it later in a more coherent and organized way (which is better than having to evict and demolish shantytowns in the future). Of course in the past Abidjan wasn't always successful at preventing the development of illegal shantytowns, but every year they demolish illegal neighborhoods (it's called "déguerpissement" in the local lingo).

That's an example of déguerpissement in Abidjan, in 2014 (one lady in the video says "We've been here for 10 years. Where are we gonna go now?"):

The SDUGA has been drafted on the assumption that Greater Abidjan would reach 7.7 million in habitants by 2030.

You can read it here (508 pages): http://open_jicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/12230637_01.pdf

Here you have the limits of the Greater Abidjan area considered for the urban masterplan. In orange, red, and blue is the current extent of urbanization. In green the current extent of fields and forests. The scale at the bottom shows the length of 15 km.

And this below is the general planning map of the SDUGA, showing the extent of urbanization planned by 2030 (in yellow the low density suburbs), as well as the two lines of the Abidjan Métro planned. 7.7 million people should live within this area in 2030, that's the assumption. They also assume that the number of jobs in Greater Abidjan will grow from 1.9 million in 2014 to 3.0 million in 2030. The manufacturing, oil, and construction sectors in Greater Abidjan should grow by 67% (from 600,000 jobs in 2014 to 1 million in 2030). The service sectors (port, transports, government, finance, trade, etc) should grow by 71% (from 1.1 million jobs in 2014 to 1.9 million jobs in 2030). Farming and fishing should decrease (from 144,000 jobs in 2014 to 94,000 jobs in 2030).

The light grey dotted lines ("Ligne HT" in legend) show the existing and future high voltage power lines. Black lines are the existing and future main roads and expressways.

For whatever reason- the British never took particular care in urban planning. And that is reflected in the countries they settled. Even today the public areas and aesthetics of British cities are inferior to Spain or France.

I think Abidjan still has potential to be an amazing city. Its not one of those cities that is lost. You can see from the 60s and 70s photos it was laid out quite well (at least the formal areas) unlike Accra. And its location on the lagoon is spectacular- they just need to clean it up and I dont know what happened with the Cocody Bay project. I think Dakar is also another city that could be spectacular and im just amazed they havent done more with their coastline which is one of the nicest out of any city in Africa.

 

[Olivilo]

^^I agree about the amazing potential of the lagoon location, but on the other hand, I'm always jealous when I look at videos of Accra and see the green and relatively clean avenues and streets of Accra, as opposed to the desperately gray and dirty avenues in Abidjan. Perhaps the British did not plan their cities properly, but at least they seem to have left a legacy of leafy avenues, with green lawns as in England.

The French were also into leafy avenues, but Abidjan grew very late, at the very end of the French colonial empire, so it did not benefit from the grand imperial urban planning that the French applied to cities like Algiers, Tunis, Dakar, Hanoi, or Saigon. It grew essentially in a post-WW2 environment when the French had not enough finance anymore due to the war to build a really grand colonial city with Haussmannian leafy avenues (imagine how Abidjan would look if it had experienced its urban boom in the 1860-1900 period instead of the 1960-1990 period!! it would look a bit like the French parts of Saigon and Hanoi, which have the same climate as Abidjan).

Recently the Ivorian authorities have launched plans to 'greenify' the city, in particular they promise to plant 2 million trees in the wealthy Cocody district of Abidjan between 2018 and 2030, but so far not much has happened. They seem more to be paying lip service to environmental issues that are dear to Western donors than to be personally convinced about changing the layout of the streets.

The work to be done is enormous when you compare to Accra. Almost all avenues would have to be changed: remove all the sand, repave, plant lawns and trees both in the middle of avenues and on the sides of avenues, rebuild all the sidewalks which are half destroyed, ban cars from parking with no order everywhere.

Unfortunately I have little hope that politicians who spend their time only in air conditioned cars driven by chauffeurs from their fortified private compounds to official ministries are really interested in changing the situation, beyond just paying lip service to Western environmentalists.

It's such a shame, because with the tropical climate anything could grow, bougainvilleas, flamboyants (flame trees), it could be such an explosion of colors, instead of the current gray ambiance.

 

[popa1980]

^^I agree about the amazing potential of the lagoon location, but on the other hand, I'm always jealous when I look at videos of Accra and see the green and relatively clean avenues and streets of Accra, as opposed to the desperately gray and dirty avenues in Abidjan. Perhaps the British did not plan their cities properly, but at least they seem to have left a legacy of leafy avenues, with green lawns as in England.

The French were also into leafy avenues, but Abidjan grew very late, at the very end of the French colonial empire, so it did not benefit from the grand imperial urban planning that the French applied to cities like Algiers, Tunis, Dakar, Hanoi, or Saigon. It grew essentially in a post-WW2 environment when the French had not enough finance anymore due to the war to build a really grand colonial city with Haussmannian leafy avenues (imagine how Abidjan would look if it had experienced its urban boom in the 1860-1900 period instead of the 1960-1990 period!! it would look a bit like the French parts of Saigon and Hanoi, which have the same climate as Abidjan).

Recently the Ivorian authorities have launched plans to 'greenify' the city, in particular they promise to plant 2 million trees in the wealthy Cocody district of Abidjan between 2018 and 2030, but so far not much has happened. They seem more to be paying lip service to environmental issues that are dear to Western donors than to be personally convinced about changing the layout of the streets.

The work to be done is enormous when you compare to Accra. Almost all avenues would have to be changed: remove all the sand, repave, plant lawns and trees both in the middle of avenues and on the sides of avenues, rebuild all the sidewalks which are half destroyed, ban cars from parking with no order everywhere.

Unfortunately I have little hope that politicians who spend their time only in air conditioned cars driven by chauffeurs from their fortified private compounds to official ministries are really interested in changing the situation, beyond just paying lip service to Western environmentalists.

It's such a shame, because with the tropical climate anything could grow, bougainvilleas, flamboyants (flame trees), it could be such an explosion of colors, instead of the current gray ambiance.

Im a huge believer that beautiful cities have a huge effect on your psychology even and completely change the vibe of a city- with our warm weather in Africa we have no excuse. Public plazas are a must along with pedestranised streets, flowers, trees etc.

Accra has a smaller lagoon also but its where all the waste from the slums goes. I think its about 2km long and has lots of empty land beside it which could be turned into a "Central Park"

 

[Olivilo]

The Ministry of Upper Education and Scientific Research tweeted this earlier today:

Abidjan metro line project: KEOLIS [future operator of the line] has announced it is looking for 800 people to recruit. As part of the operation of the future Abidjan heavy rail line, the National Polytechnic Institute Félix Houphouët-Boigny (INP-HB) organized a working session on April 9, 2019

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1116635092800163841

 

[LukeTheSubwayLover]

I am very interested in seeing how this will turn out for Abidjan

I am hoping that this will be an efficient way to help create jobs and start an economic renaissance in Abidjan as well as Cote d'Ivoire once completed. If any of you are interested, I might start a thread with my ideas for the Dakar Metro, which would be an urban rail system in Dakar. I've never been there nor am I from Senegal or of Senegalese descent, but I feel like it is essential for the city, and needs to be done if they want to ensure sustainable growth and development. Also I'm new to this website, so welcome everybody!:tongue2::wave:

 

[Jim856796]

And this below is the general planning map of the SDUGA, showing the extent of urbanization planned by 2030 (in yellow the low density suburbs), as well as the two lines of the Abidjan Métro planned. ...

So this map is supposed to give us the first glimpse of what Abidjan's second metro line will look like, huh?

I have a few assumptions: First, it looks like it's Adjame Delegation that will serve as the interchange between the two metro lines. Second, I think the part of Line 1 south of Port Bouet station looks like it could be spun-off into a third metro line (Yeah, I know that line is supposed to end at the airport, but still). One downside is, if any such line were to go to Yupougon, it'll cut through the industrial area at the south of Abidjan.