The purpose is to provide Cameroon with a low-cost,integrated and efficient transport network
YAOUNDE, (Xinhua) -- Cameroon's Economy, Planning and Regional Development Minister Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi on Friday night presented a national railway master plan to boost trade and economic growth.
The plan enshrines the "greater accomplishment" policy of President Paul Biya to provide an efficient transport network in the short, medium and long terms to transform the Central African country into an emerging economy by 2035.
He said the new railway track designed in accordance with modern standards will help to step up trade both at home and with neighboring countries, including the Central African Republic (CAR) , Chad, the Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria.
"The purpose is to provide Cameroon with a low-cost, integrated and efficient transport network," he said.
It will boost "the establishment of related industries notably in the sectors of steel, cement and aggregate production, so as to ensure an annual 4.75 percent steady increase in the gross domestic product (GDP) as from 2015 to 2040," the minister added.
The plan will within the short term link the projected iron ore, nickel, cobalt, manganese, gold, diamond and bauxite mining sites to the Lolabe-Kribi deep sea port under construction.
The railway network will also reach the existing main sea port of Douala which accounts for 95 percent of imports and exports from Cameroon and landlocked CAR, Chad and the northern part of the Republic of Congo, and the main oil export town of Limbe.
Within the medium term, the track will be extended to other regional and divisional headquarters like Kumba, the main trading center of the leading cash crop cocoa in the southwestern region, the main coffee trading centers of Mbanga, Nkongsamba, Bafoussam, Foumban and Bamenda in the littoral, western and northwestern regions, as well as to northern Nigeria and the proposed Dakar- Sudan harbor railway link through Chad.
With regard to funding and operation, he said several common scenarios are possible, including the Public/Private Partnership and the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) principle.
This, however, does not rule out the mandatory loan which stands as an additional means of funding. However, the railway will remain the state property and as such the public authorities will determine the criteria for its operation in due course. A study is underway to set out the related institutional provisions.
In fact, the Cameroon government has opted for a double lane track. A route and itineraries geared towards areas of passenger traffic or industries have been proposed based on origin/ destination hypotheses considering both population and economic growth.
The proposed route has interconnections with neighboring countries to with the aim of cashing in on an increasing traffic. These features will facilitate the acquisition of mobile equipment (wagons and locomotives) as well as a signal system that suits the basic optic fiber network.
This will make it possible to have a speed between 150 km/hr and 170 km/hr for passenger trains and 70 km/hr and 90 km/hr for freight trains.
The national master railway plan has been designed in partnership with South Korea's Korpec and Chunsuk Engineering company, which was chosen following an international invitation to tender.
The government intends to complete the feasibility study on the itineraries on the short-term by the end of 2012 and devote the following year to the application.
Cameroon's current 1,040 km railways are old and dilapidated and can no more withstand the ever growing heavy traffic. It is hoped the new network will generate much foreign exchange through the transportation of goods to neighboring landlocked CAR, Chad, the Republic of Congo and Gabon in the short term, and with extension to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola in the long term.
The plan enshrines the "greater accomplishment" policy of President Paul Biya to provide an efficient transport network in the short, medium and long terms to transform the Central African country into an emerging economy by 2035.
He said the new railway track designed in accordance with modern standards will help to step up trade both at home and with neighboring countries, including the Central African Republic (CAR) , Chad, the Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria.
"The purpose is to provide Cameroon with a low-cost, integrated and efficient transport network," he said.
It will boost "the establishment of related industries notably in the sectors of steel, cement and aggregate production, so as to ensure an annual 4.75 percent steady increase in the gross domestic product (GDP) as from 2015 to 2040," the minister added.
The plan will within the short term link the projected iron ore, nickel, cobalt, manganese, gold, diamond and bauxite mining sites to the Lolabe-Kribi deep sea port under construction.
The railway network will also reach the existing main sea port of Douala which accounts for 95 percent of imports and exports from Cameroon and landlocked CAR, Chad and the northern part of the Republic of Congo, and the main oil export town of Limbe.
Within the medium term, the track will be extended to other regional and divisional headquarters like Kumba, the main trading center of the leading cash crop cocoa in the southwestern region, the main coffee trading centers of Mbanga, Nkongsamba, Bafoussam, Foumban and Bamenda in the littoral, western and northwestern regions, as well as to northern Nigeria and the proposed Dakar- Sudan harbor railway link through Chad.
With regard to funding and operation, he said several common scenarios are possible, including the Public/Private Partnership and the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) principle.
This, however, does not rule out the mandatory loan which stands as an additional means of funding. However, the railway will remain the state property and as such the public authorities will determine the criteria for its operation in due course. A study is underway to set out the related institutional provisions.
In fact, the Cameroon government has opted for a double lane track. A route and itineraries geared towards areas of passenger traffic or industries have been proposed based on origin/ destination hypotheses considering both population and economic growth.
The proposed route has interconnections with neighboring countries to with the aim of cashing in on an increasing traffic. These features will facilitate the acquisition of mobile equipment (wagons and locomotives) as well as a signal system that suits the basic optic fiber network.
This will make it possible to have a speed between 150 km/hr and 170 km/hr for passenger trains and 70 km/hr and 90 km/hr for freight trains.
The national master railway plan has been designed in partnership with South Korea's Korpec and Chunsuk Engineering company, which was chosen following an international invitation to tender.
The government intends to complete the feasibility study on the itineraries on the short-term by the end of 2012 and devote the following year to the application.
Cameroon's current 1,040 km railways are old and dilapidated and can no more withstand the ever growing heavy traffic. It is hoped the new network will generate much foreign exchange through the transportation of goods to neighboring landlocked CAR, Chad, the Republic of Congo and Gabon in the short term, and with extension to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola in the long term.
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