(Business in Cameroon) - The World Bank approved the disbursement of CFA260.8 billion to support the Douala Bus Rapid Transit system (BRTS) project. According to an official source, CFA125.6 billion will be provided by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)- the non-concessional arm of the World Bank, while the remaining CFA135.2 billion will be provided by the International Development Association -the Bank’s concessional arm.

The World Bank support covers 77.8% of the project budget, which is estimated at CFA335.3 billion. For the non-covered part, CFA12.4 billion will come from the Cameroonian government and CFA62.1 billion from public-private partnerships. The construction of the BRTS network itself will swallow up to CFA291.9 billion, or 87% of the total budget. This includes the construction of 28 km of bus-only lanes with interchanges, 44 stations, four terminals, sewerage, water supply, street lighting, and the purchase of buses. It also includes the implementation of a traffic management system. The remainder of the funding will be spent on urban development around the bus network, institutional and professional capacity building of existing public transport operators, and project management.

The BRTS project, for which the World Bank had to increase its initial commitments, will significantly improve mobility in Douala. “The current bus network (there) is (...) inefficient and represents less than 1% of trips," according to World Bank’s analysts. People are more used to walking, cabbing, or using informal transport such as motorcycle taxis, which are considered unsafe and expensive.

8 years of delay

As a reminder, the BRTS project was announced in Cameroon 8 years ago, in 2014, when the Brazilian consortium of Marcopolo, Queiroz-Galvao, and Logit proposed to the government to implement it, mainly in Douala and Yaoundé. Other companies have also eyed the project since then. These include the Egyptian company Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles (MCV), the Italian Industrial Vehicles Corporation (Iveco), and the China Machinery Engineering Corp (CMEC).

The approval of the World Bank financing thus triggered the effective start of the project this year, as Roger Mbassa Ndine, the mayor of the city of Douala, announced in February. Cameroon seeks to build a bus system based on the Senegalese model. A mission has recently been sent to Dakar to this effect. 

"Since Senegal has already implemented the bus project, this allows us to see what it would look like in reality. We will build a model inspired by that of Dakar,” said Dr. Geremie Solle, 1st Deputy Mayor of the city of Douala, who led the mission from June 14 to 15, 2022. 

Brice R. Mbodiam