(Business in Cameroon) - On June 22, 2020, Cameroon's Head of State Paul Biya signed a decree empowering the Minister of Economy, Alamine Ousmane Mey, to sign on behalf of Cameroon a €160.6 million loan (about CFAF106 billion) with the African Development Bank (AfDB). According to the presidential decree, this loan is to partially fund the construction of the national road number 11, known as "Ring Road."

With this new financial support obtained from the AfDB, the financial assistance of this pan-African institution on the “Ring Road” project totals CFAF118 billion. Indeed, in 2019, the AfDB granted Cameroon CFAF12 billion for technical studies in the framework of the project.

After this loan, the Cameroonian government once again approached the institution for additional financing of CFAF155 billion to carry out the construction work. With the CFAF106 billion loan thus granted by the AfDB, CFAF49 billion still needs to be mobilized to complete the financing stage of this road project.

The 365 km long "Ring Road" is a road loop that will link the main cities in the north-western region of Cameroon to Nigeria. "In its consistency, the Ring Road forms a loop from Bamenda-Bambui-Ndo-Babessi-Kumbo-Nkambe-Misaje-Nyos-Wum-Bafut-Bamenda, and includes several connections to Nigerian borders," the Cameroonian Minister of Economy explained when signing the financing agreement for the technical studies of this project, in Yaoundé, on October 28, 2019.

According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), the road axis, which crosses five of the seven departments in the North-West region, is an essential link to boost trade between Cameroon and Nigeria via the Bamenda (Cameroon) - Enugu (Nigeria) road, also financed by the AfDB.

"This axis [Bamenda-Enugu] can only be a real development and integration acceleration tool in the region if it is linked to a network of roads whose base is the Ring Road," said Ousmane Doré, then AfDB Director General for the Central Africa Region.

Brice R. Mbodiam