On April 12, the Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, officially inaugurated new buildings [provisoires] of the regional office of the African Development Bank Group for Central Africa in the Yaoundé golf region. It was attended by the vice president of that organization, who is in charge of Regional Development, Integration and Service Delivery, Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, representing its president. During this ceremony, the government announced that it had given the bank a plot of land intended for its permanent headquarters.
According to the PM, referring to the order of September 11, 2023 giving priority to the ADB plot of private state property, this concerns an area of 4000m2 located at the place called Administrative Center in the area Yaoundé III, Mfoundi. share. The signature of the agreement to establish the related contract between the AfDB and the government of Cameroon was initiated in Yaoundé on July 2, 2019.
AfDB in Central Africa
By deciding to establish its regional headquarters in Cameroon, the group, it is said, intends to strengthen its cooperation with the seven member countries of the sub-region, namely Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad.
Already, the AfDB is contributing to the development of countries in the sub-region in several areas including regional infrastructure, transport, energy, value chains, information and communication systems, strengthening the process of regional integration and implementation of African Continental Free Trade. District. To date, it has approved about 600 operations in favor of the seven countries, with a total value of 10.2 billion US dollars, or about 10,953 billion FCFA.
Especially with the DRC, its portfolio is 6.3 billion dollars; the one with Gabon weighs about 3.37 billion dollars. With the Republic of Congo, the AfDB has an active portfolio of $1.1 billion, $677 million with the Central African Republic, $264 million with the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and with Chad, $1.2 billion.
Cameron/ BAD
Between Cameroon and the AfDB, there is a special relationship. Already, it should be remembered, the country was a candidate to host the headquarters of the bank group from its first moments. In 2006, the bank opened its first national office in Central Africa in Cameroon, located at the new Bastos road. In terms of grants, the AfDB supports Cameroon both in its development in the sub-region and within the country.
Regarding the first case, it contributes to the realization of integrated projects in which Cameroon is involved such as the project to build the bridge over the Logone River between Bongor in Chad and Yagoua in Cameroon. The project to build the bridge over the Ntem River on the Kribi Bata corridor, the asphalting of the Ketta region in the Republic of Congo and Djoum in Cameroon on the Yaoundé-Brazzaville corridor, the interconnection project of the electricity network of Cameroon and Chad.
In the national triangle, Cameroon has already benefited from 120 operations, with a total value of 2.8 billion dollars. Therefore in the National Development Strategy, the ADB supports it in strategic sectors including energy, transport, agribusiness, water and sanitation through the ADB Country Strategy Document covering the period 2023-2028 and the Regional Integration Strategy Paper. This group has an active portfolio of nearly 26 projects with a value of over 10,300 billion FCFA.
Among the projects currently being implemented, we can mention the Ring Road in the North West region, the development of roads to open the Kribi industrial zone in the South region as well as the Grand Zambi -Kribi roads or Bogo -Pouss. Other projects will be launched including the construction of the Bamenda-Inubu road with the construction of a bridge over the Cross-River or the construction of the Djoum Mintom road, among others.
