Phase two of Yaounde-Douala motorway to kick off October.

This was during a three-day review meeting of some ongoing projects in the country which the minister chaired. 

It was disclosed that at the moment authorities are focused on finalising the inventory of property and people affected by the infrastructure, with the aim of freeing up the right-of-way on the Centre Region side of the project.

Officials said the review of the commercial contract has been completed while the teams are preparing to launch work in the field. 

The main issue which came under review in relation to phase two of the Yaounde-Douala motorway is the measures to be taken to clear the right of way of people and property. 

In this regard, it should be noted that the operations launched by the Governor of the Centre Region few months ago have now made it possible to identify the people and property affected along the 40 km of the project route in the Centre Region.

In addition, the design studies for the first section are progressing normally, and the China First Highway Engineering Corporation, CFHEC company has taken all the necessary steps to ensure that it is mobilised on the ground without delay.

The motorway section, which will link Bidodi to Douala over a total length of 141 km and 27 km of slip roads in the Centre and Littoral regions, will comprise five sections and three slip roads connecting to the existing network.

The project involves the simultaneous construction of five sections. The said sections concern the Bibodi-Bodmon route, 39.6 km, the Bodmon-Song Dong route, 34 km, the Song Dong-Logbadjeck route, 30 km, the Logbadjeck-Pitti gare route, 17.5 km and the Pitti gare-Massoumbou route, 20 km. 

The connecting ramps, to the east of Edea, 11 km, to the west of Edea, 8 km and to the eastern entrance to the city of Douala via the Dibamba, 15.5 km, will link the infrastructure to the existing network.

Officially launched in 2014, the first phase of the Yaounde-Douala motorway was completed at the close of 2021 and partially opened to the public. The project which has witnessed several delays aims to connect the two largest cities & commercial hubs of Cameroon. 

The Yaounde-Douala highway is a modern road network of about 215 km situated between the country's two largest cities of Yaoundé and Douala. The estimated cost of the first phase was estimated between 284 FCFA billion and 337.84 billion FCFA.

During the first phase, a highway of 2x2 lanes, extensible to 3, was contructed over about 60 km, from kilometer point 0 to the Bibodi interchange.

According to the World Bank, the cost of the highway is too high compared to other projects of the same type in Africa. 

In a report published in 2018, the international financial institution revealed that the Yaounde-Douala highway will eventually reach a cost of US$11 million, a circa 6.5 billion FCFA per kilometer, compared to US$3.5 million, about 2 billion FCFA in Côte d'Ivoire and US$3 million, about 1.7 billion FCFA in Morocco.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3247 of Wednesday October 02, 2024