Avoiding the rough pavement now causes overcrowding in other roads.

It costs a lot to build roads in the nation's commercial and industrial city, Douala, geographically speaking, but it costs even more by not keeping them in good condition. The road that stretches from around the Nkololoun Market to the New Bell Cemetery (Njoya Street) soon went rough, losing much of its tar, and now the City Council’s negligence has simply transformed it into a nagging feature to motorists and pedestrians alike. That is a common irony council authorities must not be oblivious of.

With a particular focus on Njoya Street, New Bell has the distinction of having the city’s worst roads in urban areas. None of this comes as any surprise to cabdriver Nkem Augustine, who uses the street frequently a day, transporting commuters particularly between PK5, Nkololoun, Ngangue and Bonapriso neighbourhoods of Douala passing through New Bell. He disclosed that even with a state-of-the-art truck it is risk both to the truck and people using the street. A pregnant woman Yimga Collette, as a passenger complained of having received painful shocks as the taxi’s floor crashed on the rutted road surface.

Avoiding the street to use others becomes longer for a journey that would have been shorter. Using others is difficult either because most motorists avoiding the street congest them. It is alarming just how much bad roads cost individual motorists in additional maintenance.

One of the Quarter heads in the area, who asked to be anonymous said, “While government is vesting efforts to keep basic products prices down to minimize expenditures vehicle owners are paying more to keep cars on the roads.” From the look of the situation, one may be tempted to think that Douala's poor roads stem from the unwillingness of councils to fund construction and regular maintenance.