Yaounde, E. Guinea Sign Agreement On Bridge Construction

An imminent construction of a bridge on River Ntem on the 159-km trans-national Kribi-Campo-Bata road. Cameroon's Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi and Equatorial Guinea's Minister of State in charge of Regional Integration,

Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea have reached an agreement for, penned the Memorandum of Understanding in the conference hall of MINEPAT yesterday June 26.

The Memorandum of Understanding is to carry out studies in view of financing the project. The two countries need to raise their counterpart funding to meet up with the two million dollar (about FCFA one billion) gift promised in 2012 by the African Development Bank. Studies on the bridge are estimated to cost over FCFA 1.769.915.000, taxes excluded. How much each State is expected to contribute, the Ministers said, will only be known after the studies must have been carried out.

According to Minister Baltasar Engonga Adjo'o, the road project, 77 km of which is on Cameroonian soil and 82 km on that of Equatorial Guinea, constitutes a veritable vector of sub-regional integrated highly sought for the Heads of State. He noted that upon completion, the road will greatly boost economic activity in the sub-region as it will ease the movement of people and goods. The project, he added, is in line with the trans-national transport infrastructure in the Central African Sub-region.

In a speech during the agreement signing ceremony, Minister Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi said the would-be bridge is in line with government's development ambition contained in the 2010-2020 Growth and Employment Strategy Paper. While pledging Cameroon's commitment to respect its own terms of the accord, the MINEPAT boss disclosed that the two countries will contribute 50-50 to the counterpart funding and that the first evaluation will be done in six months.

The ceremony was attended among others by Cameroon's Minister of Public Works, Patrice Amba Salla, Equatorial Guinea's Minister of Finance and Budget, Marcelino Owono Edu, Cameroon's Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea, Lazare Mpouel Bala and the Deputy Secretary General of the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS, Roger Tchoungui.