The Board of Directors of the Africa Development Bank Group ( AfDB ), approved on December 13, 2024 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, a loan of 318.24 million Euros (more than 209 billion FCFA) to Cameroon to implement the fourth phase of the Transport Sector Support Program (Past4). This is within the framework of the reconstruction of the Douala-N’Djamena-Ngaoundéré-Garoua Section economic corridor.
This additional financing is in addition to the 12.24 million Euros (more than 8 billion FCFA) from the African Development Fund (ADF), the AfDB Group’s concessional loan window. The program’s direct area of influence is in two municipalities in the Adamaoua regions and three municipalities in the Northern region, home to an estimated population of 5.68 million inhabitants. On average, women represent 51% of this population and young people under 20 years old, more than half.

Serge N’Guessan, Director General of the AfDB for Central Africa, indicated that the political choice of the Cameroonian authorities in favour of the constant improvement of the level of service of the Douala-Ndjamena corridor, 2100 km long, is justified by the fact that it concentrates nearly 35% of the country’s gross domestic product GDP and serves respectively 35% and 20% of the Cameroonian and Chadian populations.
” The rehabilitation of the most degraded section, Ngaoundéré-Garoua, will improve the performance of the Cameroonian road network in order to promote participation and private investment in the agro-industrial, transport and logistics sectors, along the Douala-N’Djamena corridor and will facilitate at the same time, cross-border trade ” added Serge N’Guessan.
The project takes into account the socio-economic development of populations along the corridor by combining activities capable of providing, at the national level, a response to the infrastructure deficit, of mitigating pockets of fragility and of increasing the resilience of populations living in the area, in particular in the face of climate change.
The program also focuses on initiatives to promote youth and reduce gender inequalities, as well as support for local industry and the emergence of a private sector with high potential, around promising sectors in agriculture, livestock farming and agro-industry.