Participants at the just-ended 15th Forum of the Association of African Road Managers and Practitioners (AGEPAR) have noted with satisfaction efforts by the government of Cameroon to develop infrastructure that fall within the trans-African road projects. The stakeholders in the continent's road development last Friday April 19 visited the Yaounde-Obala-Nkolessong-Nding road, part of the 280-km Obala-Batschenga-Bouam road whose itinerary links Obala in the Centre Region to Bouam in East Region.

Already, movement on the over 80-km Obala-Batschenga-Nkolessong stretch is smooth. The over 200 AGEPAR delegates, comprising road managers and practitioners from seven African countries as well as other international organisations in road development, plied the road that crosses agro-industrial, forest and fishing zones in the country and got acquainted with how it was developed and is being managed. For example, the management of weighing stations and toll gates interested the delegates as they asked questions and shared experiences on what obtains in their respective countries.

Their veritable point of attraction was the yet-to-be functional Ndjoré weighing station which will control the tonnage capacities of heavy duty trucks to sustain the lifespan of the road. Here, the experts were shown round the edifice which contains a store where over-weighed goods will be seized and kept, a bar and restaurant as well as a packing space for defaulting vehicles. Cameroonian experts said all the facilities there have been tested and are ready for use when the administration would have assigned staff to the station.

Financing

According to Cameroon's Ngiema Essono Patrice, newly-elected AGEPAR president, the first phase of the project amounting to FCFA 43 billion is wholly financed by the government of Cameroon and executed by national companies. "Work is already finished on this stretch and the guarantee period wraps up next September. This stretch is a deviation of the main road which passes through Yaounde-Ayos-Bonis-Bertoua through Garoua-Boulai. The second stretch from Nkolessong-Nding, over 80 km, still is under construction by a Chinese firm," he said. Efforts are underway to accelerate the tarring of the third phase, Nding - Mbgaba (39, 43 km) and the fourth phase, Mbgaba-Bouam (72 km) to round off the project.

At term, the road will open the area with a high population density, ease the intermingling of the populations, consolidate national unity through the establishment of permanent contacts with other regions of Cameroon, better spread road investments over the national territory and enhance transit traffic between Cameroon and the Central African Republic and between Cameroon and Chad, as well as the transportation system between the north and south.