This project is no longer a dream but a reality that has taken shape and is impacting on the economy of the area.
Travelling from Bamenda to Mamfe in a small vehicle transporting five persons takes at most 2hrs 30mins, with all the road checks included. This journey in yesteryears referred to as nightmarish has changed to a beautiful reality, which is the tarred road. From tens of thousands as the fare that was usually paid on this road, passengers now have to pay 4000 frs for the small vehicles and 3000 frs for the agencies plying the road. Small transport vehicles are now battling for passengers with 30-seater buses, who before now could not dare ply the road. The decrease in the fare formally paid has been gladly welcomed by those plying the road for diverse reasons.Never in the history of the people of Batibo and Widikum (North West), Bachuo Akagbe and Mamfe (South West) regions, has there been serious construction works, with high-level state-of-the-art equipment, like what is going on now. As finishing touches intensify on the ground, the impact it would have on the economy upon completion is already being felt by locals. According to a public transport vehicle driver “It is now possible for me to make at least three trips in a day unlike in the past when we spent weeks on the road. I leave Mamfe as early as6:30 and by 9 am I am in Bamenda to carry different passengers back”The road which is within the framework of a joint Cameroon-Nigeria project, code-named, “Bamenda – Enugu Multinational Highway and Transport Facilitation Programme” seeks to tar the 443 km road from Cameroon to Nigeria and boost relations and socio-economic ties between the two countries.The road project that is at least 200 km long has been split into three lots. The first phase consists of 67 Km and runs from Bamenda to Numba. While the second phase spans from Numba to Bachuo Akagbe in Mamfe, the third phase links Mamfe to the border town of Ekok. The economic boom being witnessed already is said to increase upon the completion of the road. The traffic there-on has increased tremendously. So too the exportation of “Eru” is thriving. Negotiations have already been undertaken to provide them land for the creation of periodic markets to meet the economic demand that would result from the completion of the multi-billion Bamenda – Ekok trans African highway.The Bamenda – Batibo stretch according to the terms of the contract would be rehabilitated and given another layer of tar, and Batibo – Numba completely construction. Upon completion, experts say, the total distance would have been brought down from 67 km to 63Km given that the hills are being broken down to avoid the winding. Chinese engineers in charge of the project are working tooth and nail to make the once muddy and winding road a thing of the past.Bulldozers are digging, engineers surveying and the road and its vicinities taking a facelift. A deviation has been created around the Widikum area as engineers of the Chinese consortium charged with the execution of the much-heralded project are altering the hitherto winding nature of the road to give the new one better visibility. Though a significant stretch of the road has been constructed, the heavy rains continue to cause havoc. Numerous landslides keep recurring thereby causing the engineers on the road to create deviations on the road. The rains have retarded the work but there are still hopes the February 2013 deadline would be respected. Paving and the building of gutters is still ongoing. Walls of the loose soils surrounding the road are being reinforced with concrete while the little springs of water are being properly channeled. Analysts say upon completion, the nightmare users of the road had when travelling on the road will be history, the hitherto days or weeks they took from Cameroon to Nigeria will be reduced to hours and the volume of trade between the two countries will greatly increase.
Claudette chin
