World Bank Makes Fresh Economic Overtures For Cameroon, Chad

Experts have been touting the huge economic gains Cameroon and Chad stand to gain following the World Bank’s recent approval of a FCFA 310.641 billion funding for rail and road infrastructure between the two countries.

The financial package is also expected to facilitate trade exchanges as well asimprove the transit of people, goods and services along the Douala-N'Djamena multimodal corridor. The support emanates from the group’s International Development Association window.

"Improving the rail and road corridor between Cameroon and Chad is necessary for competitiveness and better integration of these two countries in the regional market,’’ according to AbdoulayeSeck, Director of World Bank Operations for Cameroon.

Douala-N'Djamena multimodal corridor is sandwiched within the axis which contributes35% of the GDP of these two countries, and serves 20% of the population of Chad and 35% Cameroonians.

It also means in principle that, the roughly 12 million people who live in this corridor will benefit from reduced transport costs and time between the port of Douala and N'Djamena, and better security conditions and access to markets when the projects eventually go operation.

The project provides for the rehabilitation and modernization of the major road and rail networks (including 595 kilometres of road on Chadian territory), the improvement of signalling systems and maintenance, as well as renovation operations, in order to make the network more resilient to the climate, states the Bank's press release.

“These investments, coupled with trade facilitation activities, will stimulate the economy and have positive effects in the region, particularly around Lake Chad, with real income increases forecast to be around 4.8 %,” it adds.

To prevent a further escalation of the terrorist conflicts in the region and build resilience, Cameroon and Chad are also poised to benefit from additional resources to support World Bank-funded programmes.

The envisaged sum isFCFA 153 billion for Cameroon, and FCFA 77 billion for Chad.

"This project is fully in line with the objective of CEMAC, which has improving regional interconnection a pillar of its regional economic programme,” according to Boutheina Guermazi, director of the Bank for regional integration in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa.