The African Development Bank is providing significant financial support to Cameroon for major road infrastructure works in the country's Far North.
The African Development Bank Group has approved a €203.11 million loan for Cameroon to implement its Land-Use Development and Promotion of the Private Sector Project in the Far North region.
The funds, approved by the Bank's Board of Directors on 25 October 2023 in Abidjan, will also boost agribusinesses, infrastructure building, and other works to support the Central African country's resilience and reduce vulnerability.
The European Union is supporting the project with a €30-million grant from the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund, which aims to contribute to land-use development, improve the transport system and promote the private sector towards the country's ambition to become an integrated and sustainable development hub in the region.
The African Development Bank Director General for Central Africa and Country Manager in Cameroon, Serge N'Guessan, said the intervention, by its integrative nature, will catalyse the implementation of several other projects, particularly in the agriculture, agribusiness and water and sanitation sectors, and promote human capital.
"It is truly one of the effective responses to the socioeconomic marginalization of this region, the poorest in Cameroon, justifying the choice made by the Bank, in consultation with the Government, to concentrate its actions there."
Components of the project include the refurbishment of 36 kilometres of road between Moutourwa and Maroua, 137 kilometres of road between Magada and Yagoua and socioeconomic schemes to help address numerous social challenges those living in the Eastern Zone face. The technical specifications for these works will include measures to address climate change.
The project will enhance the road infrastructure by promoting the involvement of the private sector to contribute to the achievement of development objectives. These activities will particularly support the development of agricultural value chains with high growth and industrial processing potential to create added value in the production of millet, sorghum, cashew, onion, rice, maize, tomato, potato, peanut, fruits and livestock.
In the longer term, the project will benefit the entire population of the Far North region, particularly producer groups and other private-sector actors.
As of 1 June 2023, the African Development Bank Group's active portfolio in Cameroon stood at $2.12 billion.
Contact:
Alexis Adélé, Communication and External Relations Department: [email protected]
