TRANSPORTS ON TRACK TO MODERNITY

Additional rolling stock, higher capacity and a bigger network are breathing new life into railways.

The “top brass” around 10 ministers, as many managing directors of companies and many of the Cameroonian capital’s political and administrative elite not to mention a pack of journalists thronged the esplanade of Yaoundé’s passenger railway station on 25 February in a festive atmosphere featuring speeches and dances. They had come to attend the official presentation of six new 2,500hp locomotives delivered to Cameroon Railways (Camrail, a subsidiary of the Bolloré group) costing a total of nine billion FCFA. The Chicago-based National Railway Equipment Company (NREC), a global leader in the construction of these types of engines, built the locomotives, which boast a capacity of 2,300 litres or 1,500 tonnes. Camrail now has a total of 28 locomotives in service.

The goal: to improve the country’s rail and logistics chain and increase the speed and frequency of the movement of goods and people. Camrail plans to acquire 40 passenger coaches next month and 15 more passenger coaches, 50 flatbed cars and 25 tank cars already on order from Chinese builders by the end of the year.

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP

The infrastructure renovation and rolling stock replacement programme, set up in the framework of an agreement between the government and the concessionary company, calls for investing 2.3 trillion FCFA (€3.5 billion) until 2030. Camrail chairman Hamadou Sali thinks the upgrade illustrates how successful public-private rail partnerships can be in sub-Saharan Africa. He says that between 1999 and 2012 the number of passenger kilometres rose from 283 million in to 494 million, a 74% jump, the tonnage of goods carried soared from 730 million to 1.145 billion tonnes/km, a 56% increase, and the number of derailments on main lines fell from 184 to 21.

The improvements confirm that the ambitious, development-spurring network the government called for in its national rail guidelines published a year ago is possible. The programme, whose implementation is planned over the short, medium and long terms, includes routes geared towards passenger traffic and industrial development, such as the future Mbalam-Kribi line, which will serve to export iron ore. Its route takes account of economic development and demographic growth prospects in various areas as well as the possibilities of links with neighbouring countries, including Gabon or Congo. The project could generate up to 600,000 direct and indirect jobs while creating new occupations. For financing, officials are counting on a public-private partnership based on the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. The government will own the lines and manage them after a 25-year period. The Ministry of the Economy says the multimodal approach is systematically preferred. The goal is an integrated, efficient, nationwide network open to neighbouring countries at lower cost.

By François BAMBOU