On December 19, 2022, the Société des Transports Abidjanais sur Rail (STAR), a consortium of companies made up of Bouygues Travaux Publics (project leader), Colas Rail, Alstom and Keolis, signed a new amendment to the contract for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of Line 1 of the Abidjan Metro with the government of Côte d’Ivoire, represented by Amadou Koné, Minister of Transport, Adama Coulibaly, Minister of Economy and Finance, and Moussa Sanogo, Minister of the Budget and State Portfolio. Patrick Achi, Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire, and Bruno Le Maire, the French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, attended the ceremony.  

This signature marks a new stage in the project, with the closing of the financing phase and the contract coming into force. Capable of carrying more than 500,000 passengers per day, this open-air metro, the most ambitious mass transit project in sub-Saharan Africa, will improve traffic flows and relieve congestion in Abidjan.

The 37-kilometre route will follow a natural communication corridor from the north (Anyama Centre Station) to the south (Airport Station) of the Ivorian capital. Major elements of the project include the construction of 18 stations, 24 bridges, one viaduct over the lagoon, 34 pedestrian bridges and eight underground passages. 

The signing of the contract launches a 66-month construction period, at the end of which the metro will enter commercial service. The Côte d’Ivoire authorities have chosen a consortium of leading French companies. The construction of the infrastructure will be carried out by Bouygues Travaux Publics. Colas Rail will be responsible for the track, electrification (catenaries and electrical substations), ticketing systems and part of the low-voltage systems, and it will participate in system integration. Alstom will develop the rolling stock (20 five-car trains), equipped with a state-of-the-art CBTC (Communication-Based Train Control) system, and will also be involved in system integration. Finally, operation and maintenance of the metro network has been assigned to the Keolis group.