Algeria has completed the construction of 1,600 kilometers of Trans-Saharan Highway with another 200 kilometers under working progress, an official overseeing the project has told news agency APS.
Mohamed Ayadi Secretary General of the Trans-Saharan Liaison Committee said that the remaining 200km will be finished with the shortest time possible.
The trans-Saharan highway project passes through six African countries, namely Algeria, Tunisia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad.
Read:Breakthrough in longest railway tunnel in North Africa
The 4,500 km Trans-Saharan Highway linking Algiers in Algeria to Lagos in Nigeria aims to contribute to the development of commercial exchanges through roads and promote regional integration in Africa.
It is one of the oldest transnational highways in Africa and one of the most complete, having been proposed in 1962, with construction of sections in the Sahara starting in the 1970s.
Its central section is still little-used though, and still requires special vehicles and precautions to be taken to survive the harsh environment and climate of the center of the desert.