On both international and national scenes, Cameroon counts as stool of harmony

 

Cameroon is famous as a seat of integration both at continental and regional levels. On that score, projects that bring unity and harmony are often conceived in Yaounde, capital of one of the CEMAC countries that shares borders with the West African country of Nigeria. An example of such a project was made concrete a decade ago focusing on roads.

Continental Integration Corridors

African experts met in Yaounde (Cameroon) some years ago and discussed possibilities of a road network to bond the major markets of the continent. One of such projects connects the Cameroonian town of Bamenda to the Nigerian town of Enugu. Today, a finished project, it was funded by the African Development Bank with strategic contributions from concerned Governments. Sources put the total cost at $423 million.

The Bamenda-Enugu highway is yet a part of the Trans-African Highway conceived more than 30 years ago as a transcontinental link from Mombasa (Kenya) Indian Ocean to Lagos (Nigeria) on the Atlantic Ocean.

Upon completion the road will also link landlocked Sub-Saharan Africa in the like of Central African Republic.

Cameroon and Nigeria entered an agreement to build the Enugu-Bamenda road and promote integration aiming at socio-economic development. The Cameroonian part of the road has been completed.

National Integration Corridors

By experts’ yardstick, Cameroon’s road communication covers a linear of some 50.000 Km. Grouping them into four categories, Guelemo Frederick, an engineer in charge of rural engineering at the South West Regional Delegation of Agriculture and Rural Development in Buea detailed out as follows:

– National roads linking the national capital to regional headquarters, or roads leading to country borders,

– Regional roads linking the regional headquarters to divisional headquarters,

– Divisional roads linking the divisional headquarters to sub-divisional headquarters and

– Rural roads also called farm to market roads, meant to un-enclave the countryside, agricultural production basins and local industrial zones.

The expert informed a recent technical committee meeting of the Support Programme for the Improvement of Performance of Rural Sector Administrations o MINADER and MINEPIA (AMO) that the first three categories of roads are more or less maintained on a yearly basis by the Government through the Ministry of Public Works. Meanwhile the maintenance of rural roads still requires concerted concern.