Yaounde-Douala Expressway Project: Gov’t To Indemnify Locals

The Minister of Public Works made the announcement yesterday while evaluating some 44 important projects being executed on national roads across the country.

Residents living, or people whose properties will be damaged on part of the Yaounde-Douala expressway under construction will be compensated next week, a government official has said. Minister Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi of Public Works made the declaration yesterday Tuesday February 20, 2018 during a meeting in Yaounde to evaluate the progress of work on the expressway and other national roads in the country.

China First Highway Engineering Company (CFHEC); the road construction enterprise executing the project, had earlier complained that work had been stalled between Kilometric Point (PK) 40 and PK 60, because inhabitants along the stretch are yet to vacate the area.

The residents have been waiting to be indemnified. Minister Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi disclosed that steps were already being taken to address the issue. “Between now and next week, a prime ministerial order will be signed relating to the compensation of the locals,” the minister said, reiterating that various beneficiaries will be effectively indemnified in order for them to liberate the area for work to continue. The minister also disclosed that special measures have been taken to disburse payments to the construction company, and that issues of delayed payment will henceforth become a thing of the past.

To Hentati Riadh of SCET Tunisie/ Louis Berger, chief of mission for the construction of the expressway, once PK40-PK60 will be liberated, bulldozing work will immediately pick up. The engineer noted that they will proceed with clearing the stretch and terracing before the rains co...