“The project will be implemented by 2023. We are in the process of fulfilling the conditions expected from donors to start the project“. These reassuring words are those of Célestine Ketcha Courtès, Minister of Housing and Urban Development (Mindhu). The member of the government spoke thus in 2022, after leaving a forum on housing organized in Poland. At the end of this event which brought together the most important global financial institutions, Cameroon, according to Mindhu, succeeded in negotiating financing promises amounting to 175 billion F for its construction project. a bypass road in the city of Yaoundé. A sum of money more than sufficient to begin the first phase of this project, the cost of which is estimated at 150 billion F.
However, despite the optimistic projections from Célestine Ketcha Courtès who expected to receive the money promised by investors during the year 2023, in order to start the work during the same period, the donors remained silent. At present, only the money promised by the European Union delegation in Cameroon is available, i.e. 33 billion CFA francs. Reluctance of financial partners or perhaps unreassuring economic viability? Nothing is certain. The European Union delegation which supports Cameroon in the process of mobilizing funds and the Ministry of Housing speak with one voice. “Negotiations continue,” said Jean Marc Châtaigner, the head of the EU delegation in Cameroon after a recent audience granted to him by Célestine Ketcha Courtès.
According to the latter, “the Yaoundé bypass project, for which the European Union was kind enough to mobilize all the funding alongside other partners, already has funding from the European Union and only others remain“. However, the French diplomat did not provide any details regarding the progress of the negotiations, even less on the actors who have so far expressed an interest in financing the project. In Mindhu, it is omerta. Contacted by Current Challenges, the officials of this ministry did not wish to express themselves. All this which gradually reinforces the thesis of a postponement of the work indefinitely.
However, the project to construct the bypass road for the city of Yaoundé has revealed rather interesting trappings in order to attract investors. “The construction project of the Yaoundé bypass and the four urban development poles will make it possible to generate economic benefits of around 4,145 billion and generated mainly by saving time (75%), reducing costs. vehicle operating costs (14%), land added value (9%) and finally taxes generated to the state during the construction period (1%)”,reassure the Cameroonian government and the European Union. Assurances that they have technical, economic, environmental and social and urban planning studies carried out by the Cira SAS office from 2018 to 2021, for an amount of 1.3 billion CFA francs.
For the record, the construction of the Yaoundé bypass requires a budget of 1,264 billion FCFA. Or 794 billion FCFA for the construction of the bypass road, including 88 billion FCFA for compensation and relocations. The rest, 470 billion FCFA, is intended to finance the development works of the four urban centers of the capital, including 20 billion FCFA (for compensation and relocation).
