The construction of a bridge over the Logone River, the natural border between Chad and Cameroon, was launched on Thursday February 27 by the President of Chad, Idriss Deby and the Prime Minister of Cameroon, Joseph Dion Nguté, noted the correspondent of Anadolu.
Déby and Nguté laid the foundation stone for the construction of the bridge that will link Bongor (Chad) to Yagoua (Cameroon).
The construction of this bridge aims, in particular, to reduce transport costs, to bring Chad closer to the Cameroonian ports of Douala and Kribi and thus to allow it access to the sea and to the international market, specified the authorities of the two country, on the sidelines of the project launching ceremony.
“We are not at the first structure built between Chad and Cameroon. We already have a bridge that connects the Chadian city of Ndjamena to Kousseri in Cameroon and another large bridge that connects Touboro (Cameroon) -Moundou (Chad). And today we are therefore participating in the launch of the construction of the bridge over the Logone river connecting the city of Yagoua-Bongor”, underlined the Chadian President, Idriss Deby.
With a length of 620 meters, this new bridge will be used to connect via a 14 km road the town of Yagoua, in the Far-North region of Cameroon, and that of Bongor, in the south of Chad.
The project was widely praised by the Cameroonian and Chadian populations who cross the Logone River on a daily basis.
“Soon we will no longer have to make the trip between Yagoua and Bongor by canoe. We will no longer suffer to reach the other side of the shore. We have already lost several lives crossing the Logone by canoe,” Asta Bouba Anadolu, a teacher at Bongor.
The project which total cost is 100 billion CFA francs (over $ 178.5 million) will be co-financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) to the tune of 74 billion CFA francs (over 132 million dollars) and the European Union (EU) up to 26 billion CFA francs (over 46.4 million dollars), according to the joint project management unit.
