As the leading development partner for infrastructure in Central Africa, the African Development Bank Group is the primary institution supporting Cameroon in implementing major transformative projects, particularly in transport infrastructure.
Over 50% (56,5 % editor’s note) of the Bank Group’s portfolio in Cameroon is dedicated to financing transport infrastructure.
For instance, the Bank’s funding enabled the connection between Cameroon and Congo through the two phases of the Ketta-Djoum Road Construction Project, amounting to $173 million.
Additionally, the Bank helped link Cameroon to Nigeria via the Bamenda-Enugu Road Construction Project and the construction of the Cross River Bridge, inaugurated in October 2022, with a contribution of $120 million.
Moreover, the construction of the bridge over the Logone River, funded with $115 million and started in 2020, aims to connect northern Cameroon to Chad. The Ntem River Bridge Construction Project, approved in 2023 with an $80 million funding, will connect Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
The completion of these projects “has helped improve the efficiency of the transport logistics chain along the corridors and increased access to basic services for the population, creating over 2.5 million direct jobs, 40% of which are for women,” according to the African Development Bank (AfDB).
“The Bank’s interventions are radically transforming the regions,” said Ousmane Alamine Mey, Cameroon’s Minister of Economy, Planning, and Regional Development
In 2011, the Bank also provided financial and technical support for the construction of the Lom Pangar and Nachtigal dams, amounting to $60 million. The hydroelectric dam construction added 1153 GWH to the interconnected network in southern Cameroon, providing electricity to over 100,000 additional households.
The Bank remains the only development institution that continues to conduct intensive operations in Cameroon’s Far North, North West, and South West regions, which face security challenges. These regions, along with the East, are the Bank’s priorities in Cameroon for the next five years.
Among these projects are:
- The Cameroon-Chad Power Interconnection Project, funded with $240.86 million,
- The Territorial Development Project for the Far North Region, financed with $215.8 million,
- The Water Supply and Sanitation Program Study and Preparation Project, valued at $5.72 million,
- The Ring Road Project, amounting to $241.6 million,
- The Lake Chad Basin Regional Road Network Integration Project, funded with $48.8 million,
- The Integrated Development and Climate Change Adaptation Program in the Niger Basin, financed with $9 million.
The Bank Group signed a €203 million financing agreement with the Cameroonian government alongside the inauguration ceremony of its regional office.
This agreement supports the implementation of the Territorial Development and Private Sector Promotion Project in the Far North Region.
This project, benefiting over four million people, will contribute to regional development, improve the transport system, and promote the private sector to foster the emergence of an integrated and sustainable development hub in the Far North.
This region serves as a buffer zone between the Sahel and Central Africa and is a significant sub-regional crossroads among three of the four countries in the Lake Chad Basin (Cameroon, Nigeria, and Chad). It faces the effects of major crises that are distinct yet closely related.
“The Bank is a great partner for Cameroon, and I am pleased that its interventions align with our country’s strategic needs,” praised the Minister of Public Works. “The African Development Bank’s projects have significant impacts on our population,” added the Minister of Finance.
“We intend to be bolder, move faster, and be more effective in our various interventions in Cameroon,” pledged Ms. Akin-Olugbade. “Because lives are at stake.” She also mentioned that the Bank Group could increase its interventions in urban development and digitalization. “We can double the country portfolio in the next five years,” she asserted.
During the meetings, the Vice President and her counterparts reviewed the Bank’s portfolio for Cameroon, which comprised 26 projects as of April 1, 2024, with commitments totaling approximately $2.5 billion. The main sectors of focus are transport (56.5%), energy (20.4%), and agriculture (10.5%).
Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute praised, “at its true value,” the support of the African Development Bank in integrative projects in Central Africa during the inauguration of the Bank’s regional office for Central Africa.