Development of transport infrastructure in Cameroon: a long and promising process at the speed of a turtle.

Par malumiereetmonsalut Le 05/07/2023 à 12:15 0

Dossier

Bad road quality in Cameroon

If making ends meet, that is to say being able to honestly and daily satisfy one's primary needs is difficult, the deplorable quality of much of the transport infrastructure in Cameroon makes this daily challenge even more complex, especially for producers, sellers and resellers of market gardening products. When getting your products to the points of sale is like a daily ordeal, there is enough to get in motion against those who are responsible for managing the transport system in the city and on the outskirts.

The numerous notable efforts undertaken by the State with the aim of increasing the number of kilometres of paved roads and improving the quality of urban roads via the decentralized territorial communities leave something to be desired. The roads network in Cameroon according to a 2021 report is estimated at more than one hundred and twenty one thousand eight hundred and eighty four point seven kilometers (121,884.7 km). If the road infrastructure projects progress as it should, the total kilometers of paved roads in the country will amount to more than ten thousand kilometres (10,000 km) in 2024; In other words, sixty-four years after gaining independence in 1960, the total number of paved surfaces would correspond to a percentage greater than or equal to eight point twenty percent ( ≥ 8.20%). And with regard to urban roads, their state of disrepair and their virtual non-existence due to galloping demography and the inability of a certain class of the population to afford housing that meets the requirements of a real urban master plan have accentuated the problem of anarchic constructions and suffice to show how poor the country is in terms of quality transport infrastructure.

The quality of transport infrastructure in Cameroon

To justify the lack of quality infrastructure in Cameroon, official sources mention the problem of financing and the problem of security in several regions. If these reasons are valid, they still raise several questions: Are we not paying the price for the multiple financial embezzlements that have followed one another during our history? Is the pretext of recent security problems (2014 [2016]-2023…) not the way to hide our failures and put our efforts forward in order to make the public believe that all is well without however admitting the fact that we have a share of responsibility in the slowness and the disuse of the development projects? Do security problems justify the fact that most regions of Cameroon remain landlocked after several decades?

Also read : Decentralization : when will the full transfer of powers and resources to the decentralized territorial communities

People have goods and cannot sell them easily, not because there are no roads, but because there are no quality roads. If there are no quality roads because of a financing problem which may be debatable, this does not prevent finding way to alleviate the pain of users through adaptation measures that vary with the seasons. We are not saying that the decentralized local authorities do not do their job or do not do it well. We just want to suggest lines of thought with a view to implementing adaptation measures while waiting for more substantial funding. How to ensure that in the rainy season for example, vehicles are not stuck in the mud? How to ensure almost fluid traffic despite the absence of bitumen? An additional human investment is necessary to allow a movement of people and goods that is certainly archaic but useful. We cannot continue to afford to wait until a road or track is impassable to consider renovations and take urgent action only when people die.

The considerable cost of carrying out development projects and the lack of seriousness of some civil servants in the management of public affairs

If we have to be realistic by admitting that it is not overnight, that is to say over a period of ten (10) years for example that we can meet the needs for quality transport infrastructure throughout the national territory, we must above all be much more serious about these three points that we are going to specify: First of all, it's necessary that those who want to be elected or who have been elected as well as those who want to be nominated or who have been nominated stop keeping people in unachievable. That they do not promise what they do not intend to do or that present circumstances do not allow them to achieve. When you are not able or when you have not been able to deliver a project on time, you have to recognize your failure and do your best to ensure that the mistakes of the past do not happen again. Those who know that they are at the service of the people must provide it with a synthetic and permanent report of all the projects they manage and not sporadic assessments which often have nothing to do with the realities on the ground. Second, not seek to take more than what is rightfully ours. We cannot have a salary and still nibble on what does not belong to us or solve another problem with funds that are intended for another project. Fuzzy and confusing forms of management must disappear and make way for more transparency in projects management. Thirdly, the populations must assume their responsibilities by registering on the electoral lists to elect those they find really capable of improving their living conditions because when even half of the total population does not vote in a major election, there is cause for concern.

What soothing measure while waiting for quality infrastructure?

The State or the decentralized territorial communities must see to what extent to subsidize or subsidize in part, the transport of goods for the populations who live in landlocked places. By exempting or reducing certain costs, this will allow people to have at least the hope that one day the bitumen will reach them.

When they are asked to wait and to fight while waiting for the arrival of a salutary moment which is not even looming on the horizon, it is a way of telling them that while waiting for the day when we can make omelettes without breaking the eggs, keep these eggs at home and even if they rot it doesn't matter, just be patient. Elected officials must be more sincere with those who elected them.

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