Public works:

2nd Wouri bridge half way gone

Public Works minister, Emmanuel NganouDjoumessi visited the site one week ago

By Mercy Neba in Douala

Emmanuel NganouDjoumessi

Construction work on the second bridge over the Wouri River in Douala is advancing, to the satisfaction of the minster of Public Works, Emmanuel NganouDjoumessi. He was at the site on Monday, 20 June 2016 to have a first-hand experience of the progress of the infrastructural project.

What the minister realized, like other observers, is the fact that the physical advancement rate of the construction work is about 71.5% while the rate of physical advancement of access work comes up to 30% in the Deido section, as well as 28% and 32% in the Bonaberi area.

As for the rate of the physical advancement of the construction work on the viaduct, that is, the bridge proper, it is estimated at 81.44%. Here, the ongoing work has to do with the putting in place of the motorway, including the drainage systems and the traffic deviations on the boulevard.        

                Meantime work has come to a halt at the Bonaberi end, first because Camtel and the Electricity Development Corporation (EDC) are yet to displace their networks and second on account of the fact that the constructors are waiting for the bituminous concrete to be formed and validated. 

It should be noted that a supplementary contract has been added to that of the construction of the second bridge over the Wouri River. Costing some 28 billion FCFA, it has to do with constructing the access ways to the bridge. More specifically, it consists in the construction of an uneven roundabout at the level of SCDP, the construction of two lower passages: one on the access road adjacent to the Dangote factory and the Base Elf, and a railroad.

                Complementary works include the construction of crossovers, the rehabilitation of the Diedo Roundabout (Rond Point Dedo), walls in the north and in the south, etc. At the Bonaberi end, access embankments will be constructed without necessarily letting them be located in full roundabouts.

The second bridge over River Wouri will be delivered in January 2017. If the work has slowed down a little, it is because of exogenous reasons such as heavy rains, delays in digging and the refurbishment of the pavement. Also, the advancement of the work was affected by an accident that occurred on a 15-metre long stockade barge at the project site. 

                However, work on the construction of these projects is expected to end in July 2017 and that on the construction of the viaduct and its access ways in July 2018, that is, if the timetable updated on 2 March 2016 is anything to go by. Meantime, the rate of the physical advancement of the complementary works is estimated at 30% at the Deido end.