A Cameroonian delegation, led by Richard Ambassa Ntede, head of the Legal Affairs and Treaties Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited Ndjamena, the capital of Chad, on April 4, 2014, to finalise the agreement framework for the expansion of the Cameroonian railway to Chad. According to reliable sources, the said agreement is close to completion and needs only to be signed by the Ministers of Transportation for both countries. This is likely to occur in the second quarter of 2014.

Although the agreement states that the two parties will finalise, at a later date, the actual route the expansion will take to Chad, and that it will be built by Camrail, the Bolloré Africa Logistics subsidiary and primary dealer of the Cameroonian railway system, sources suggest that the project’s leaders have already secretly come to an agreement about the path the railway will take.

According to our sources, the route chosen will run from the Camrail station in Ngaoundéré (Cameroon) to Ndjamena, covering 1,400 km, with an estimated investment of 1.4 trillion FCfa. This route therefore excludes the second option preferred by Chad which would involve running the railway from Ngaoundéré to Moundou (Chad’s economic capital), covering only 400 km for a total cost of 1.16 trillion FCfa in order to provide transport to the northern region of Chad. However, an insider source states that, “the Chadian government is committed to doing the railway expansion itself between Ndjamena and Moundou.”

This expansion of the Cameroonian railway network to Chad is a virtual blessing for that country as “almost all imports and exports go through Douala,” stated the Chadian Minister of Public Infrastructure and Equipment, Gata Ngoulou, at a Camrail ceremony on February 26, 2013 in Yaoundé. The latter added that “the ideal means of transport from this port to Chad, and vice versa, is railway. Sixty percent of Camrail transportation goes to Chad.” For the time being, a large portion of Chad’s imports will continue to be trucked on the Douala-Ndjamena roadway which is reputed to be one of the CEMAC zone’s breeding grounds for police problems and corruption.

BRM