(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon plans to commission the first 60 kilometers of the Yaoundé-Douala highway before the AFCON2021, which will start in January 2022. This was revealed by Benoît Parfait Mbole Mbole, Head of the Infrastructures Department of the Ministry of Public Works during a field visit on April 6, 2021.

However, to fulfill its ambition, the country will have to address numerous challenges. For instance, it will have to complete the construction of the first section of the highway (according to the control mission Scet-Tunisie/Louis-Berger, the section is 98% completed).

Also, the connection facilities need to be completed to connect the first section to the Yaoundé road axis and the Nationale 3 (at Boumnyebel). Next, the country will have to build functional infrastructure (tolls, weighing stations, rest and service areas as well as emergency lanes), and sign a concession contract for the operation of this section of the highway.

The Yaoundé-Douala highway is a modern road network of 196 km connecting the country's two largest cities. The estimated cost of the first phase of its construction is XAF338.7 billion VAT.

Phase 1 of this project consists of building a 60-kilometer 2 x 2-lane freeway (extendable to 3 lanes) from kilometer point 0 to the Bibodi interchange.

This implementation of this first phase was greatly delayed because of right-of-way release problems as well as financial challenges. For instance, on February 22, 2021, in Yaoundé, when Minister of Public Works Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi was assessing the state of the road being built in the country, the contractors active on the Yaoundé-Douala highway estimated that the government still owed them XAF33.39 billion for this project.

BRM