The Ministry of Public Works (MINTP) plans to tar 200 km of main and 150 km of rural roads respectively during the ongoing fiscal year to better the country’s road network. Statistics show that out of the 50,000 km of roads that the country has; only about 10 per cent is tarred.
Speaking on Monday January 24, 2011 at the Yaounde Conference Centre while receiving Best Wishes from his internal and external collaborators, MINTP boss, Bernard Messengue Avom, said ongoing road construction projects will be pursued while new ones will also be engaged to better some areas and open up others.
Monday’s ceremony featured among others a retrospective look of how the ministry fared in 2011 and priority areas in 2011 as well as instructions on how to achieve excellence. According to the Secretary General at MINTP, Philemon Zo’o Zame, the ministry made strides in 2010 in its mission of developing the country’s road network. The tarring of the Ayos-Abong-Mbang road as well as the Yaounde-Olama axis of the Yaounde-Kribi road was part of the 70 per cent success rate the ministry recorded in the construction and maintenance of main roads. He said though priority rural roads had a below average execution rate of 38 per cent, the overall performance was satisfactory given the context of 2010.
In the ongoing year, focus will be on the tarring of the Obala-Batchenga-Nkolessong, Garoua Boulai-Ngaoundere, Nkolessong and the Tokombere-Mada-Bala roads as well as the construction of bridges to link some landlocked areas. Work, the minister said, will continue on the Bamenda-Mamfe-Ekok road, part of the Bamenda-Enugu multinational highway and a progressive tarring of the famous Bamenda ring road project, wherein studies are being finalised to take-off the four-phase project, comprising Bamenda -Ndop-Kumbo-Nkambe-Wum-Bamenda with the tarring of the Ndop-Babessi stretch of the road. The rest include Kumbo-Nkambe (66 km), Nkambe-Wum (110 km) as well Wum-Bamenda (81 km) and Bamenda-Ndop (40 km). As instructions, Mr Messengue Avom said performance indicators should be put in place to ensure a result-driven management to meet the target already set for the ministry.
The colourful ceremony also gave Mr Messengue Avom and his Secretary of State, Hans Nyetam Nyetam, the opportunity to decorate outstanding staff with labour medals ranging from gold to silver.
