On June 3, the Cameroonian Minister of Transportation, Robert Nkili, and his Chadian counterpart in charge of Infrastructure, Transportation and Civil Aviation, Adoum Youmousmi, signed the Agreement for the Creation of the Cameroon-Chad Railway Commission, to extend the rail service into Chad.

This agreement, indicated the Cameroonian Minister of Transportation at a ceremony held in Ndjamena, is the culmination of four years of consultations between the two parties.

The idea of extending the Cameroonian railway service into Chad was first raised “during discussion at the 22nd meeting of the Mixed Commission of Cameroon and Chad held in December 2010 in Yaoundé,” stated Minister Nkili, who considers the signing of the agreement “to be a sound affirmation of a common destiny shared by neighbouring States and marks a key moment in the realisation of an integrated CEMAC zone.”

In addition, in the application of article 6 of this agreement, announced the Minister of Transportation, the contracted parties chose Bolloré Africa Logistics, of which one of the companies in Cameroon (Camrail) is the concession holder for the railway will involve “supporting the conducting of studies, providing support in the preparation of files to introduce the project to lenders, preparing meetings with lenders, contributing to deliberations and the financial and institutional set-up.”

According to our sources, the new route will depart from the Camrail terminus in Ngaoundéré (Cameroon) for Ndjamena, the Chadian capital, on a length of 1,400 Km, for an investment estimated at around 1.4 trillion FCfa.

This route therefore excludes the second hypothesis that is most popular among the political class and Chadian population and involves the extension of the Cameroonian railway from Ngaoundéré to Moundou (economic capital of Chad), for an investment of 1.16 trillion FCfa in order to serve northern Chad.

However, stated a reliable source, “the Chadian government is committed to building, itself, the expansion of the railway between Ndjamena and Moundou.”