NW MPs thank Biya, Public Works Minister for ongoing road projects, demand more.

This was during an audience granted them by the Minister of Public Works.It was Hon Njingum Musa Mbutoh of Ngoketunjia Division who led the delegation during the visit.

Hon Njingum who is currently serving as Questor at the National Assembly was accompanied by 17 Members of Parliament.

The people’s representatives told the minister that the visit was to express their deep gratitude to the Head of State and the government for achievements in the road sector in the North West Region. 

Hon Njingum who spoke on behalf of the MPs explained to the press that: “Our visit today to the Minister of Public Works is in fact, very important. Important because we had two phases of discussions during the meeting. The first purpose was to appreciate and thank him and his collaborators for implementing the vision of the Head of State in disenclaving the North West Region. Many things have been done since the Head of State gave instructions to the Minister of Public Works”.

He continued that: “The second purpose was to give a global view of the North West public works infrastructure situation which they could use as a data base to be able to do their programming. We are very satisfied with the response he has given us”.

“We are very impressed because he has promised us that all the proposals we made are going to be taken into consideration,” he added.

Gratitude, hope for more projects

During the meeting, the visiting lawmakers were keen to highlight government's efforts to make the reconstruction of the North West Region visible.

The parliamentarians had expressed the satisfaction of the users of the Babadjou-Bamenda road, whose construction work is underway and nearing completion.

In their respective speeches during the audience, the MPs praised the kick off nearly a year ago, of construction works on the National No.1, along the Ring Road, with works underway on the Kumbo-Nkambe-Misaje section, including the Nkambe bypass (96 km) in three lots. 

The Member of Parliament for Menchum South Special Constituency, Hon Richard Wallang, who also spoke during the meeting, established the link between the implementation of the said projects and their impact on youth employment and employability, and consequently on the return to peace in the region. 

The lawmaker who is serving his third mandate in Parliament pointed out that despite the constraints linked to insecurity, government has remained steadfast in its efforts to develop road infrastructure, particularly with regard to road maintenance. 

Hon Wallang who sits atop the Follow-up Committee for the implementation of Public Investment Projects in the North West Region also expressed the wish of his peers to visit the Babadjou-Bamenda road in the coming weeks.

The MPs had also taken advantage of the meeting to express their grievances to the Minister of Public Works regarding the rehabilitation of certain roads and bridges and the maintenance of communal roads. 

In this respect, a number of routes were mentioned, such as the link between the Bamenda airport service road, the bridge linking Boyo and Mezam Divisions, the Bamenda-Mbengwi road, and several communal roads and hydraulic structures in Bali and Batibo, among others.

Attentive to these grievances, Public Works Minister Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi reassured the audience that immediate and future measures would be taken to overcome the constraints involved in rehabilitating and further maintaining the region's road infrastructure. 

With regard to road construction projects, he said that several technical studies were underway, with the aim of extending the tarring of other sections of the Ring Road, and increasing the number of tarred roads in the North-West region. 

He pointed out that between 2020 and 2024, just over 11 billion FCFA has been transferred to the region's decentralised local authorities for road maintenance.

He said an agreement with MIDENO will enable periodic maintenance and/or rehabilitation work to be carried out on roads such as the Catholic Mission-Bamunka Fon's Palace-Back Palace Farms dirt road (22, 00 km) with the construction of seven (07) 1x1.5 m gutters and six (06) 1x1 m gutters, Atoh Nibie-Ntsewih-Ntoh (3,00KM) with the construction of one (01) 2x2 m gutter and three (03) 1X1.5m gutters and Bamessing-Ngweng Farms-Babanki (15, 00km) Road embankment with the construction of four (04) 1x1.5 m and five (05) 1x1 m culverts located in the districts of Ndop and Tubah, Ngoketundjia and Mezam departments.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3256 of Friday October 11, 2024