(Business in Cameroon) - On Feb 28, 2020, Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno and Cameroon’s Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute officially launched the construction of the Bongor (Chad)-Yagoua (Cameroon) bridge.

The 620-meter long infrastructure should boost trade between Cameroon and Chad. It will be built over the Logone river and should be the second bridge connecting Chad and Cameroon. The first one being the Nguéli bridge connecting Kousseri, in Cameroon, to Ndjamena, Chad.

The Bongor-Yagoua bridge (XAF74 billion) will be funded by a loan and the European Union. The financial costs will be borne by both countries at the rate of 58% for Cameroon and 42% for Chad. As for the construction work, it is planned to last 36 weeks and entrusted to the  Razel Cameroun-Razel Fayat-Sotcocog consortium.

According to the AfDB, apart from the said bridge, the construction project includes 14.2 km of driveways divided as follows: 7.4 km at the Chadian side and 6.8 km at the Cameroonian side. It also includes related works mainly constituted of socioeconomic infrastructures (border crossings and warning devices) bringing the total cost of this construction project to about XAF92 billion.  

The project is one of the major integration projects currently being implemented in the CEMAC region. Indeed, there is also the project for the extension of Cameroon’s railway towards Chad and the construction of the Sangmélima (Cameroon) - Ouesso (Congo) road.

Brice R. Mbodiam