Board of Governors of the project will visit the road course in about two months from now.

All things being equal, clearing of the forest and bulldozing the path of the Yaounde-Douala double-carriage road (motorway), at least for the first 10 km, is imminent. Steering and follow up committee members of the project met in Yaounde on Friday May 17 to endorse the detailed plan of the first 10 km of the project proposed by the Chinese contractor, "China First Highway Engineering Company (CFHEC)."

Implications

With the detailed plan now approved, the contractor can now conveniently go down to the field to begin effective work, notably clearing the forest path through which the road will pass and bulldozing it. But before this, the Board of Governors of the project is scheduled to visit the road course to evaluate what will be damaged and how the concerned population will be compensated. According to the Deputy General Manager of CFHEC, Daniel Aboua Tiba, this would be in two months from now. Once the clearing and bulldozing works are done, it will give way to geotechnical studies which concerns basically the nature of the soil so as to know what material to use.

Its Financing

Government had contracted a FCFA 241 billion loan from the Chinese import/export bank, Eximbank China, to finance the first phase of the project. The Minister disclosed that government has already disbursed FCFA 10 billion which represents part of its counterpart funding for the project and with which the contractor was able to carry out the studies whose results were approved during the Friday's meeting. "A calendar of how the rest of the money would be disbursed has been drawn up by the competent authorities and it gives me hope to believe that the enterprise has what it takes to the take the much-heralded project off the ground," Minister Amba Salla said.

What is Left?

According to the Minister of Public Works, Patrice Amba Salla, chairman of the projects steering and follow up committee, what is left now is for the enterprise to get its contract in which the quantity of work to be done will be indicated. Contrary to initial plans of effectively beginning work in April, the Minister said work could begin by the end of the month even if legal instruments like the signing of the contract are yet to be put in place.

Concerning the site to host the inaugural ceremony of the project, the Minister disclosed that efforts are ongoing at the level of the regional commission to evaluate what will be destroyed on the site for compensation to be done. The eight-hectare piece of land to host the inaugural ceremony will thereafter serve as base for the contracting firm.