The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Célestine Ketcha Courtès, is visited the city of Yaoundé on Wednesday 11 September 2024 to assess progress achieved by the Development of Inclusive and Resilient Cities Project (PDVIR) in the city.

This field visit is taking place in the Yaoundé 5 and Yaoundé 7 Councils, more specifically in Nkolmesseng and Oyomabang neighbourhoods. The rehabilitation of the road network through the PDVIR represents a major achievement in the policy of transforming cities and improving living conditions in under-equipped neighbourhoods desired by the Head of State and implemented by MINHDU with the support of the World Bank. MINHDU will soon be delivering nearly 15 km of tarred road in these two neighbourhoods under the PDVIR.

During her visit to the worksites, Célestine Ketcha Courtès assessed work already completed and provided guidance on how to improve the pace of work. It should be noted that at the beginning of September 2024, the rate of progress per section fluctuates between 85% and 95%, enabling freshly tarred roads to be opened to traffic.

For Nkolmesseng, this involves construction work on several sections of primary roads and a 5-kilometre boulevard linking several major junctions: Lycée bilingue Junction – Momebelengal Junction – Fabrique Junction – Safari Junction – Ottou Junction – Tradex Eleveur Junction. In addition to this linear road network, there is further 2.636 km of road linking Safari Junction, Fabrique Junction, Momebelengal Junction and Mebe City Junction. Gone are the dust and mud of this once isolated and sometimes mocked neighbourhood, replaced by a newly-created road linking Safari Junction to Tradex Éleveur Junction via Le Chef.

In Oyomabang, the local population will benefit from around 5.6 km of road, divided into five sections: Petit Marché Oyomabang Junction – Camp Sonel Oyomabang Junction; Camp Sonel Oyomabang Junction – Leboudi Road Junction; Camp Sonel Oyomabang Junction – Centre Oyomabang Junction; Centre Oyomabang Junction – Nkolbisson Junction; Centre Oyomabang Junction – Evouna Bella Junction. The rehabilitation of these sections is a great relief to the local population, who had to struggle to get around both in the wet and the dry seasons.
The happiness of the population in these two councils of the city of Yaoundé is nothing but the culmination of the vision of the President of the Republic, which is to improve urban management and access to infrastructures in selected urban areas in general, and under-equipped neighbourhoods in particular, and to increase resilience to natural hazards and other possible crises.

The PDVIR is financed by the World Bank at a total cost of 93 billion CFA francs and by the Cameroon Government. This funding is mainly intended to improve the living conditions of people in under-equipped neighbourhoods, through the construction of structural roads, drains and local community facilities. Ultimately, the PDVIR is expected to have a positive impact on 651,400 direct beneficiaries, whose living conditions are getting improved.

As a reminder, the Inclusive and Resilient Cities Development Project (PDVIR) supports the RLAs in implementing activities in seven cities in Cameroon: Batouri, Douala, Kousséri, Kumba, Maroua, Ngaoundéré and Yaoundé, funded by the World Bank.

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