Tollgates:

Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni on Friday chaired the third session of the National Road Board.

The third session of the National Road Board, an advisory body with objective to establish and strengthen dialogue between the stakeholders of the road sector, took place at the Prime Minister’s Office on 11 January 2008. Prime Minister, Head of Government Ephraim Inoni, who is the board chairperson, in his opening statement expressed dissatisfaction that the returns from tollgates have declined despite the construction of more tarred roads and setting up of more tollgates.

In order to remedy the paradoxical situation, the Prime Minister said, he has instructed the Minister of Public Works to press on with the progressive computerisation of the management of tollgates. According to his instructions, the computerisation process has to start with tollgates in the Yaounde-Douala-Bafoussam- Yaounde triangle that manages more than 75 percent of the country’s tollgates returns. The Head of Government disclosed that between 2001 to 2005 when the tollgates were managed by an Inter-ministerial Committee the returns were 5 billion CFA francs. The Programme to Secure Road Returns (PSRR) took over management in 2005. But it is paradoxical that from 2005 to present day, the returns have dropped to an average of 3 billion CFA francs. The Prime Minister also instructed the Minister of Finance to conduct an independent audit of the programme to find out the causes of the situation.

Members of the National Road Board used the session to examine and discuss the annual plans of the ministries entitled to make payments to the Road Fund for the 2008 fiscal year and also listened to presentations from some members of government. The session also took place on the heels of the 23rd session of the World Road Congress organised in France last September 2007. According to Prime Minister Inoni, the Cameroonian delegation that participated in the congress shared experiences with delegates from other countries on road maintenance, grading and construction. All these were aimed at henceforth improving the quality of services by offering greater comfort to road users, as well as reduce the travel time and accidents.

Prime Minister Ephraim Inoni announced that the record file on government’s infrastructure projects, with road projects occupying a central place was being drawn up. The objective is to increase the allowances of road projects and clearly see the priorities projects to be presented to potential investors.


Emmanuel KENDEMEH