A few months before the end of his seven-year term, Paul Biya can boast of having placed most his major projects in the pipeline. Ready for implementation, many are at their start-up phase and many more, among the most emblematic in the energy, water and port infrastructure sectors, will be completed before the end of his term.

"Our country needs more roads, bridges, dams, port installations, telecommunication, means of communication by rail, air (...). We are going to provide them," announced Paul Biya, on 4th November 2004 at the start of his term of office about to end. He revealed then that the era of major projects was back and that Cameroon would soon become vast building site, as we have seen during the first years of independence, prosperous years.

Roads and housing
In the urbanism and housing sector, the implementation of the multi-annual programme resulted in the rehabilitation of the public road network and structuring roads in some major cities and the effective launching of the construction works of 10?000 social housing in Yaoundé and Douala. Works to open up the precarious housing areas in some cities have also been carried out in partnership with the World Bank within the framework of the Project for the Development of urban areas and water supply (PDUE). The government further revealed that the maintenance works of the national road network completed in 2010 and financed by the Road Fund, covered 10 569 kilometres of main road and 5295 kilometres of rural roads. These works involve the maintenance of asphalted and earth roads, bridges and aprons. "Their completion rate could reach 75 % at the end of the 2010 fiscal year. More than 70% of the programmes financed by different funds (Road Fund, HIPC and C2D) to open up the rural areas and covering 120 kilometres of main roads and 130 kilometres of rural roads have been carried out during the first half of 2010," as indicated in the government's economic and financial report.

The launch of the building of the second bridge on the Wouri River in Douala, eagerly anticipated by the business community to relieve congestion on the roads within and around the economic capital is imminent, since all the funds have been mobilized. The State has already provided 10.6 billion for the finalization of the studies and in advance for the commencement of works. The French cooperation has recently agreed to provide up to 119 billion to finance works.

For the government of Cameroon, the project of the future is undeniably the completion of the Douala Yaoundé Bafoussam Douala motorway loop, which should reduce the number of accidents on this road, considered as one of the deadliest of the continent. The Minister of Public Works has already received a tentative agreement from a Chinese firm for the first 70 km section of the two-lane motorway to be constructed according to Chinese standards, with a reference speed of 100 km/h from Yaoundé to Douala.

Kribi Port: powerhouse of development
The Kribi port complex is one of the flagship infrastructural projects of the government and the launching of many other major projects, especially in the industrial, mining and agro-industrial fields, depends on its successful outcome, as highlighted by the Minister of Economy, Chairman of the Steering and Monitoring Committee for the construction of this port. Minister Louis Paul Motazé further explained that this project "seeks to play a catalyzing role in the acceleration of growth in Cameroon with the aim of developing the exploitation of mineral resources (bauxite, iron, cobalt, nickel, etc.); meeting our constant need to have a deep water port, to make up for the limits of our current port installations to accommodate large ships; have a container hub port on the West-African coast, a real platform for transhipment and redistribution of goods; activate sub-regional integration through the Kribi (Cameroon) – Bangui (RCA) – Kisangani (RDC) transport and development corridor and bypasses leading to other CEMAC member countries (Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo)".

The construction of this 282 billion port has effectively commenced and will make up for the limits of the Douala port. This huge project, whose financial arrangements, completed today, mobilized the government and its partners for many months, has just given substance to the projections made by Paul Biya as soon as he started his current seven-year term which is about to end. The main port will include a 400000 TEU container terminal (20-foot container equivalent units) during the first stage, 800,000 TEU on completion, an aluminium terminal (1.5 million tons of alumina and 1.5 million tons of different inputs), a hydrocarbon terminal (3 million tons) and a polyvalent terminal (2 to 3 million tons). A transhipping traffic (200,000 TEU) will be added to this movement. The ore tanker wharf will be provided for the transit of 35 million tons of exported iron ore every year. These infrastructure will accommodate the traffic of about 3.5 million of m³ of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a traffic of some 2 million tons of alumina (Cam Alumina Project), both intended for export.

The limits of the Douala Port
The Cameroonian government's readiness to launch this project is due to the country's economic context marked by the launching of industrial and mining projects (aluminium, bauxite, iron, etc) which would be in great need of a deep-water port for their transportation. The requirement to strengthen the capacity to transport mining and industrial products led to the design of a port complex architecture with a main port presenting different specialized terminals. This main port will accommodate large commercial ships with a capacity of up to 100,000 tons and a draught of 15 to 16 metres. Its construction will make up for the limits of the Douala Port, whose capacity is still limited to 15,000 ton ships and a draught of 6 to 7 metres and whose channel needs to be dredged regularly.