Cameroon to get automated toll gates soon

Following a public tender launched by the Ministry of Public Works, Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, the government of Cameroon is embarking on the construction of some automated Toll Gates to replace the ailing manual ones.

The document signed last May but only released recently stipulates that this modification concerns 14 toll gates across the country. The road networks concerned are:

Yaoundé-Douala-Limbe

Yaoundé-Bafoussam-Bamenda

Douala-Bafoussam

Bafoussam-Dschang

Bafoussam-Foumban

Yaoundé-Mbalmayo

According to specificities, the toll gates will be constructed to be of international standard and will limit traffic congestion at payment points as about 200 vehicles will be expected to go through a toll per hour.

With exception to Edea and Nkometou (around Yaoundé from the West) toll gates, each payment point will have 2×2 lanes (2 lanes each way) measuring about 22.4 meters with a width of 2×1.5meters with two walk-ways for pedestrians.

The Edea and Nkometou toll gates with their heavy volume of traffic shall be 2×3 lanes, 32.80meters long and 2×1.5meters wide. The platform itself shall have a length of 50 meters permitting vehicles with various heights to go through, according to the plan.

Even though humans will be exempted from selling tickets as is the case presently, the tolls shall, however, have surveillance buildings with video cameras and gendarmerie post just nearby. The big innovation shall see the introduction of a machine that will be in charge of collections.

In most countries of the world, even in African countries like Nigeria and South Africa, automated toll gates have been in used for a while so that drivers do not have to stop at toll gates to make payment.

In Cameroon, Toll gates have until now been a source of corruption and embezzlement as collections from the tolls rarely get to gov’t coffers. In 2015, a control mission of the Supreme State Audit revealed that about FCFA 5 billion collected from toll gates around the country between 2007 and 2011 was embezzled.

This is mostly facilitated by chiefs of toll gates and ticket vendors who sometimes sell their own tickets and pocket the money or simply collect tolls without issuing tickets.

While bringing change to the situation sounds like a great idea, the problem in Cameroon is that the roads themselves don’t deserve tolls because they are usually in unpassable state.

Take the case of Bafoussam – Bamenda, the government was embarrassed last year when the Chairman of the SDF party, John Fru Ndi stormed the Matezem toll gate into Bamenda and sent away collectors because tolls were being collected but the road remained impassible.