The Board of Directors of the World Bank approved a loan of $ 71 million from the International Development Association (IDA ) to support Cameroon in the development of its international and regional trade, job creation and the reduction of isolation of poor communities in the northern part of the country by supporting the improvement of road and rail networks along the corridor Douala -N'Djamena ( Chad ).

The Cameroon Gov’t will contribute $ 20 million to the total project cost, which is $ 91 million.

"The Douala -N'Djamena road corridor is part of the backbone of the transport infrastructure in Central Africa and one of the key development priorities of the World Bank," said Gregor Binkert, the Director operations of the World Bank for Cameroon.

"In the long term, this project will expand the access of the population to schools, health centers and markets, and provide new import and export to local economies opportunities," he added.

According to estimations made by the World Bank, road and rail work to be done will directly benefit about 3.5 million people in the Far North region of Cameroon ( roughly 20% of the population), including residents of the northern towns of Maroua, Mora and Kousséri.

The project also aims to rehabilitate the last stretches of road in very bad condition ( Maroua -Mora 60 km long section), transport corridor linking Douala to N'Djamena, which is the capital and the largest city of Chad.

"It will also fund a five years maintenance contracts on the basis of results of a corridor of 270 km long between Maroua and Kousséri,."

" The project for which the loan was approved today will ensure transport in any season of the year - by rail or road - for goods and people, especially young people and women, on northern regions of Cameroon, who are among the poorest in the country, while facilitating transport and transit between the port of Douala and the landlocked countries of Chad, "said Peter Ngwa Taniform, team leader of the World Bank Cameroon in charge of this project.

Beyond the appearance of the opening of the poorest, the announcement of the World Bank should generate a real hope among Chadian traders, because of the transport costs reduction.

An assessment in 2012 by CEMAC independent experts had highlighted the fact that the products sometimes lost 5-6 days for their delivery to Chad, due to the bad roads.