The conference room of the Ministry of Transport served as the setting for the 39th session of the Interministerial Committee for Railway Infrastructure held recently in Yaoundé. Chaired by Mintransport, Jean Ernest Masséna Ngallè Bibéhé, the work saw the participation of Camrail officials and other members of Comifer. The various speakers all returned to the need to restore a proud look to the railway activity in Cameroon. “We must relaunch this particularly devastated sector of activity”, declared Jean Ernest Masséna Ngallè Bibéhé.
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To achieve this, the Cameroonian government knows it can count on its historical partner, Camrail and on all the other donors involved in this upcoming rehabilitation. The work in Yaoundé also made it possible to take stock of the sector and see what needs to be done in the coming months. We note with satisfaction the imminent completion of the rail component of the multimodal transport project with the acceptance, during the month of May 2023; the market for upgrading the telecoms artery between Douala and Ngaoundéré, which will mark the end of the Five-Year Program No. 1 (PQ1) of railway investments; the preparatory phase of the infrastructure projects of the next investment program completed.
Regarding funding, Claude Misse Ntone, the Director of Rail Transport reassures on the positive progress of negotiations with the country’s development partners. He is also delighted with, among other things, the support of 255 million Euros, i.e. more than 166 billion FCFA from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union (EU) and the French Development Agency. (AFD) for the renewal of the Bélabo-Ngaoundéré railway line; the financing agreement of 106 million Euros equivalent to more than 69 billion FCFA as a loan from the EIB, and 23 million Euros or 15,054,675,318 FCFA as a grant from the European Union, which was signed in December 2021.
Rail projects in sight
We also note the negotiations with the AFD which are continuing, with a view to signing a loan agreement for an amount of 126 million Euros, i.e. an equivalent of 82,473,438,700 CFA francs, no later than July 16, 2023. According to our information, the Mintransport has been taking action for several months. In particular the solicitation for the acquisition of new passenger cars in excellent condition.
Regarding the implementation of the national railway master plan, the construction of the Edéa-Kribi-Campo, Douala-Limbé-Idenau and Douala-Ngaoundéré lines is planned. Still in infrastructure, Jean Ernest Masséna Ngallè Bibéhé underlines that development projects for the national railway network have conducted studies for the extension of the railway line to Chad, started since May 2021 under the aegis of the Cameroonian and Chadian governments. and with financing from the African Development Bank.
