During a workshop held on Thursday, May 30, 2024, the Minister of Public Works, Emmanuel NGANOU DJOUMESSI, technical and financial partners, and stakeholders in the road maintenance system examined the Terms of Reference developed for the recruitment of a consultant tasked with developing a road maintenance strategy in Cameroon. With an increasingly expanding road network (from 55,000 km in the 1980s to 121,873 km today), and despite the efforts made by the Government to improve the lifespan of roads, the trend of degradation caused by various factors such as climate change and increased traffic with complex parameters dilutes these efforts. It is in this context that the Ministry of Public Works envisages the development of a road network maintenance strategy for Cameroon.
The objective of this strategy is to elucidate the logic of interventions in road maintenance and specify collaboration mechanisms to foster synergies among system actors. This will be carried out by an expert whose mission is to develop a road network maintenance strategy for Cameroon, aligned with the country's socio-economic development policies and challenges by 2030. The meeting, led by the State Engineer, allowed all stakeholders to contribute to the "consultant's compass" document. Exhaustively, the consultant will, within a period of twelve (12) months, conduct a diagnosis of the road maintenance and asset management system in Cameroon, develop a maintenance and management strategy for said assets, and propose a roadmap outlining clear operations and steps towards achieving the objectives of the strategy for road asset maintenance and management in Cameroon. In addition to the methodological aspect and expected results, criteria related to the qualifications and obligations of the consultant were examined.
Reaction
Joseph Fotsing, Division Chief of Planning, Programming, and Standards/MINTP
« In reality, the profile is not exclusive. Earlier, you mentioned the need to do it internally, yes, it can be done, except that a strategy is developed over a very long term. We must first diagnose our road maintenance system because in reality, we do not have one, whether it's programming or interventions in the field, whether it's coordination on the ground, we don't truly have a road management strategy in Cameroon. That's why this meeting is being held, to find the rare bird perhaps internally, why not in Cameroon, or it can come from abroad internationally; it's an open offer. Their mandate will first be to diagnose what exists, what we have as assets. What we have as a strategy through the system. And now, we're developing infrastructure, we're expanding the network, but there's no real policy for sustainability. Most of our national roads are deteriorating because they've reached the end of their lifespan. If we had tackled the issue head-on, we wouldn't be in this situation today because normally, for a road that's been completed, maintenance starts the next day because there are three types of maintenance: preventive maintenance, routine maintenance, and periodic maintenance. We need to establish a national policy to maintain our road assets.».
Clément Noumsi
Comments