The laying of the foundation stone ceremony will be the result of several preparatory stages.

The construction of a second bridge over the Wouri River was initially voiced at the Infrastructure Committee meeting in Douala in April 2003.

Within the framework of the partnership between the public and the private sectors, the Minister of Public Works chaired the Infrastructure Committee enlarged to the private sector held in Douala from April 22 to 23, 2003, during which the issue of the financing of infrastructure with the Build-Operate and Transfer (BOT) system was raised.

It is in this spirit that the current project to bypass the Douala city, with a second bridge over the Wouri River was being prepared. Feasibility and APS studies were completed for the construction of the second bridge and the construction file was prepared. Later, the group SOGEA SATOM/EIFFAGE/SOLETANCHE BACHY/LAVIGNE-CHERON/GREISCH conceived and designed the 1,800 metre-long, slightly curved structure to serve as both a road and a railway bridge. It carries two railway tracks and the road deck provides five traffic lanes and two pavements. Conception phase took 8 months, while construction is due to last 36 months.

French company SOGEA SATOM was awarded the contract to construct the FCFA 119 billion bridge in January 2012. Since then, the Administration in Douala and Yaounde has held meetings to plan an imminent foundation stone ceremony. As to financing, a convention was signed in Douala by the former Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Louis Paul Motaze, and the French Ambassador to Cameroon, Bruno Gain. According to the agreement, the French Development Agency will provide 57% of funds for the bridge, 19% from the Debt Relief and Development Contract (C2D) and 24% from the state of Cameroon.

The project will relieve congestion on the existing bridge and have a positive impact on the economy. It is estimated that the existing bridge entertains over 40,000 vehicles on a daily basis. Economic analysis revealed that as concerns transport of goods and services, domestic gas represented 8% of goods transported for a volume of 1,210,000 cubic metres, while banana represented 24.8% and cement 74.3%. Traffic on the Wouri bridge also include trains (two trains per day), tourism and utility vehicles (17,000 vehicles per day with 76% representing cabs) and trucks (32,000 vehicles per day, with 4.7% heavy trucks).