Residents accused of destroying the Garoua-Maroua road

Residents in Garoua and Maroua have found the Garoua-Maroua highway, National No 1, as a source of income due to the gravels on the road, according to the L’œil du Sahel newspaper.

According to the newspaper, hundreds of men, women and children equipped with containers, brooms, hoes and wheelbarrows travel the length of the road to gather gravels on the road. They scrape spilled gravel on the pavement and partitions of the road. They form piles along the road in anticipation of a potential buyer.

The activity experiences a different dimension during the holidays, the newspaper noted. At that time, the number of collectors increases dramatically. Holiday makers in these localities, combined with the permanent actors, pick gravels on the road, there by spoiling it. These young people could be seen with containers, buckets and plates. They make little piles and then bring them together in one place. Everyone has his technique and it is benefits them.

Disposal sites are erected and each pile bears the mark of its owner. Buyers are mainly composed of contractors and developers of the great work.

According to the Regional Delegate of the Ministry of Public Works, Pabame Dang, this practice is strictly forbidden by law. "These acts are violations of road assets. They are punishable by law," he admitted.

Pabame Dang also indicated that its services educate people about the risks they run. However, no trial has yet been brought against these people, but "an investigation was opened by the commander of the gendarmerie in Figuil, to find perpetrators who are involved in this act," recounted the Delegate.