Yaounde-Douala Double Carriage Road - Contract Proposal Under Examination

An ad hoc committee set up to scrutinise the contract proposal (projet de marché) for the Yaounde-Douala Double Carriage Road from the Chinese firm, China First Highway Engineering Company (CFHEC) retained to conceive and execute the project, is at work, the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in Charge of Public Contracts, Abba Sadou, has said. The committee comprising all the concerned administration, he noted, is out to harmonise the project's cost with its technical profile.

Precisely, the committee is looking at the clauses and characteristics of the contract. "As at today, the scrutiny of the file is taking the necessary time to ascertain the pertinence of the cost. As soon as the committee is convinced of the exact cost of the contract, it would give its observation. It is a growth-induced project of about 200 km and the Head of State holds it in high esteem and it's logical that particular attention be given to it to be sure of the coherence between the technical profile of the project and its financing," Minister Abba Sadou told Cameroon Tribune yesterday September 2. Government, the Minister added, wanted a realistic cost. "The most important thing was that the entire administration comes into consensus on the cost. As at today, we have an idea of this best cost and we need to share it with the firm," Minister Abba Sadou said. It's only then that a conception and execution contract would be signed.

Information from the Chinese firm indicates that preparatory work is complete on the field and the signing of a conception and execution contract with government is what CFHEC needs now to take the project off the ground. Records show that the Chinese contractor is already done with the topographic work of the first 100 km and all the geotechnical studies on the first 50 km are also complete. The steering committee members of the project met in Yaounde on Friday May 17, 2013 and endorsed the detailed plan of the first 10 km of the project, paving the way for the contractor to go down to the field to begin effective work, notably clearing the forest path through which the road will pass and bulldozing it.

Their presence on the field, Minister Abba Sadou said, is to carry out preparatory works given that the firm has a contract to conceive and execute the project. "Given that it was a mutually accepted contract (gré à gré), they knew that another company could not be given the contract and so it was logical for them to go ahead to do what they have done," he said. The project is expected to span through 60 months from when the execution contract would be signed.