Rehabilitation of Bagadou-Bamenda road to commence soon

The poor roads are obstacles to socio-economic development in Cameroon which have become major vectors of opening up remote areas but most of all the true cord interregional cultural and socioeconomic brewing.

The axes of movement in good condition have become a vital need for the proper functioning of a nation of 23 million people.

The national road equipment that has improved a lot remains to lag behind the rest in terms of what is expected in our economic takeoff.

This examination can be done on any plans on existing infrastructure failing in quality, quantity, cost billions announced solemnly in an expense that often forgets that it is only common usage and sentenced to be maintained. Unequal access is often a factor of imbalance in the development aspirations of each region, each division and each subdivision.

Furthermore, in recent years the gap between Africa and the rest of the world is widened by bankruptcy or lack of infrastructure. This explains the loss of Africa's market share globally. Africa is lagging behind the rest of the world on nearly all infrastructure development plans: quality, quantity, cost and equal access.

Furthermore, in recent years the gap between Africa and the rest of the world has widened. This explains the loss of Africa's market share globally. The lack of means of transport and communication accounts for about 25% of the decline in Africa's share of exports.

Indeed, production interruptions, delivery delays or inability to communicate reasonably well prohibit the development of high value-added products, which absolutely must be delivered on time.

The cost of transportation in Africa is the highest in the world, the freight for imports costs 70% more in East Africa and West than in Asian developing countries. This infrastructure deficiency has multiple consequences:

Returns costs are high compared to other countries;

Growth and long-term industrial competitiveness of Africa are considerably hampered by poor infrastructure;

Slower integration to domestic, or even if it is less clear that the obstacle to global competitiveness, hinder market integration is detrimental for growth;

The lack of rural roads passable in all seasons, in particular, condemns rural isolation, to a subsistence production and to higher risks;

Poor telecommunications infrastructure lowers a percentage point of Africa's growth rate. It results in a low price competitiveness that explains about 25% of the decline of Africa's share in world exports etc. ;

The lack of infrastructure is one of the root causes of the lack of competitiveness. In Cameroon, the cost of transportation is a higher trade barrier than tariffs. However, the cost of transport depends on the quality of infrastructure, according to variables such as the density of the road network, the network of paved roads, the railway network, and the number of phones per capita.

Rehabilitation of the Yaounde-Bamenda road has established itself as a de facto to economic emergency in terms of its traffic load. The World Bank comes to the rescue of the Ministry of Public Works to find a solution by releasing funds to ensure this project. Emmanuel Djoumessi Nganou and partners of the World Bank agreed on the need to widen the pavement of this road section to ensure compliance with the standings including those of cross-border Enugu-Bamenda.

The works of complete rehabilitation of this section, therefore, consist inter alia to switch to a width of 7.5 meters. The two sides also agreed to develop a timeline of activities that will complete the full rehabilitation of the Bamenda-Babadjouaxis in the month of November 2018.

Previously, the Ministry of Public Works and the World Bank intend to involve all concerned authorities as part of the liberalization of the way and the project procurement procedures related thereto. Taking part in this consultation on the World Bank side, Elisabeth Huybens, Director of Operations for Cameroon, the director of transportation for the Africa region and many other officials in charge of projects, sustainable development and facilitation were involved.

The rehabilitation of the Babadjou- Bamenda road section stands as an important project in terms of the degree of degradation of this axis and the will to improve the national road network in accordance with the objectives in the Strategic Document for Growth. The added value of work to be done at the beginning of the year 2016, is expanding its current path, for increasing transboundary routes like the Bamenda- Enugu route in order to facilitate Cameroon -NIGERIA exchanges.