Those who plied the over 280-km Obala-Batschenga-Mbandjock-Nkolessong-Nding-Bouam road in the yesteryears would have three sides of a story to tell should they revisit the road today. The deviation from the main Yaounde-Ayos-Bonis-Bertoua road has witnessed significant evolution in recent years. From yesterday’s nightmarish trip on the sometimes dusty or muddy road, which users say often took days , circulation is already smooth on some stretches and even where change is yet to come, there is at least hope, for the entire project is such a vast construction site. Already, movement on the already paved 80-km Obala–Batschenga–Nkolessong section is smooth. Users are happy that the hitherto nightmare each time they had to undertake a journey on that road has been transformed into anxiety. “In less than two hours from Mbandjock, I am already in Yaounde and vice versa. This is contrary to what existed before as we took so many hours and even when you succeeded to get to your destination you would not be able to do any other thing as you would have been completely exhausted,” a user said.

While the yet-to-be functional Ndjoré weighing station, to control the tonnage capacities of heavy duty trucks to sustain the lifespan of the road awaits the transfer of personnel, the toll gate at Nio Baboute between Ndjoré and Mbandjock is undergoing completion work. When we visited the road on Wednesday April 24, workers of a sub-contractor under Buns enterprise were busy correcting errors, especially on the gutters, to make the toll gate fully ready for use. According to the team leader, Akuman Nde, “the slope of the toll gate was not flowing and we are correcting it. We have been working for one week and in three weeks from now, everything will be OK.” With this, the stretch that gulped in some FCFA 43 billion of the country’s Public Investment Budget and whose guarantee period wraps up next September will be fully operational.

The story is different for the 89-km Nkolessong-Nding section. Here, machines of the contracting firm, China Water and Electricity Corporation (CWE), are working round the clock to give the road its desired facelift. Currently, they are focusing on constructing bridges and culverts on the so many streams along the path as well as bulldozing the road. According to the Senior Divisional Officer for Upper Sanaga, Nanga Dang Albert, government this year set aside FCFA 4 billion for the project. The machines are yet to get to Nanga-Eboko, the chief town of the Division but the population is eager for what they say will be the dawn of a new era for the locality when the road is finally tarred. Not only will it open up the agriculturally-based area but will also link up the Division to the Regional capital, Yaounde.