The Ministry of Public Works (MINTP) unveiled the provisional budget for the second phase of the motorway project between Yaoundé and Douala. The overall envelop amounts to FCFA 1,072 billion TTC, or about FCFA 899.3 billion excluding taxes. This amount will cover the construction of 141 km of main highway and nearly 40 km of connection straps, according to official estimates.
The Cameroonian government plans to mobilise several sources of funding for this project. Negotiation is open with the London Chartered Bank Standard Bank and the Exim Bank of China to provide loans, which will be completed by a financial contribution from the Cameroonian State. Although the exact distribution between these different donors has not yet been stopped, the MINTP hopes to conclude the financing agreement for the first 40 kilometers before the end of the third quarter of 2025, that is to say by the end of August.
This clarification of the financing methods would allow an effective start of the work in the second half of 2025. Current projections count on a period of production of three years, with a planned commissioning during the second half of 2028.
Let us recall that in October 2024, the Minister of Public Works Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi had officially launched the studies of design and realization of this phase II.
China First Highway Engineering Corporation (CFHEC) in charge of the first phase of the project (around 70 km), faces difficulties of deployment in the field. In question: the opposition of the local populations, which condition access to the sites to the prior payment of compensation. To date, only five kilometers have been released by the communities concerned. The Ministry of Public Works indicates to wait until next June the signing by the Prime Minister of the compensation decree relating to the first 32 kilometers of the route.
For comparison, phase I – launched in October 2014 after four endorsements – finally lasted eight years and cost nearly 350 billion FCFA, largely exceeding the initial amount of 284 billion FCFA.
[Culled and loosely translated from IC]