Cameroon-Nigeria cooperation:

B’da-Enugu corridor now ready

It used to take days for passengers to travel from Bamenda to Enugu. But now three hours are enough for the journey to be done

By Tanyi Kenneth Musa in Y’de with field reports

The nightmare of spending three to four days to travel from Bamenda in the North West region to Enugu in Nigeria, passing through the small border town of Ekok in Manyu division of the South West region, is now a thing of the past. In just three hours today, one can conveniently do the journey thanks to the tarring of the road linking Bamenda and Ekok.

Work on the 443 km-Bamenda-Enugu corridor was subdivided as follows: 203 km in the Cameroonian territory (Bamenda-Ekok) and 240 km on Nigerian soil. And if the decision to tar that road was made, it was in a bid to intensify trade between the two neighbouring countries.

                This road-construction project, The Median has been informed, equally involved the ongoing tarring of the 150 km-road between Kumba and Mamfe. It was in relation to this part of the project that the minister of Public Works, Emmanuel NganouDjoumessi and the resident representative of the African Development Bank (ADB), Racine Kane, held a discussion in Yaounde on Tuesday, 14 June 2016.

                Talking after the audience, the resident representative of BAD said the companies doing the job were working at a relatively satisfactory rhythm even though there were some imperfections on the first five kilometres of the road.

                “These were minor imperfections,” he said. “The company in charge was instructed to redress the situation and we think that will be done as soon as possible.”

                The Median has learned that close to 10 billion FCFA of the 17.4 billion FCFA earmarked for the project has already been made available, and that the three decrees that have to do with compensation of victims have been signed. In fact, all the victims of expropriation in KupeMuanenguba division have already been compensated. As for the victims in Meme division, we were told they are expected to receive their compensation in the days ahead as the minister has ordered for the transfer of their expropriation charges.

                It should be noted that the Kumba-Mamfe road also links the South West and the North West regions and has the advantage of linking Douala to the Bamenda-Enugu corridor.