Contractors exhorted to respect terms of contract

The Minister of Public Works, Patrice Amba Salla, has urged contractors constructing the Douala-Yaounde express road to respect the terms of the contract and execute the project within the stipulated time frame.

Minister Amba Salla was speaking on January 27, during the third session of the Project’s Steering and Monitoring Committee at the Yaounde Conference Centre.

Reiterating the importance of respecting the 60 months execution timeline allocated for the project, Minister Amba Salla said the project is expected to modernise and ease transportation of people and goods within the country, given that, the current road is not up to standard and does not meet the demands of its users.

To him, the realisation of the project will develop Cameroon’s road network, as well as move her to the level of an emerging economy by 2035.

Assessing the progress of the project, the Minister commended the contractors for the 10km execution of the project during the first phase. He however, admonished them to work harder as he promised to put in place measures that will help accelerate the second phase of the project.

The Minister also validated technical studies on the project and appealed to institutions that can fund research works to hasten the advancement of the project.

Asked why the delay in realising the project, the technicians supervising the project explained that the swampy nature of some stretches of the road and some rocky areas necessitated the use of explosives which limited their progress.

The Douala-Yaounde express road is extremely congested and has been termed by road experts as one of the deadliest roads in the Central African Region.

The road is characterised by many curves, changes in road grade, poor maintenance and heavy truck traffic, including logging semi-tractor trailers.

The realisation of this project, experts say, will result in a straighter 2-lane motorway which is safe and of better quality.