Biya trip timed to kill hot anger over Ring Road

Bd’a visit delayed untill decayed road is dry enough for delegates from Nkambe, Kumbo, other parts of NW

By Eugene N. Nforngwa
The Standard Tribune

YAOUNDE—President Paul Biya would wait until the decayed Ring Road is fully passable before making his long awaited trip to Bamenda, according to several Unity Palace and government sources.

Authorities fear angry reactions from delegates expected to travel on the badly torn road from the inner parts of the region could mar the visit, which is now expected to take place as the dry season settles in across the North West.

The road would be a thorny political subject when the president visits the regionional capital later this year to speak at a civilian event on the sidelines of a parade to mark 50 years of the Cameroon military, we hear.

Biya promised to build the road more than twenty years ago when he just came to power but failed to keep the promise. He is expected to make up by again announcing the project, likely to be undertaken by Chinese contractors.

If plans are executed, the road would not be a complete ring, according to one official who has been briefed about what is envisaged. Two separate highways would link Bamenda to Messaje and Bamenda to Wum. 

A dirt road would link both highways through Nyos. Details about the engineering work are still being ironed out but one official has told us the road would be more than six metres wide.

Users have increasingly complained bitterly about the torn state of the road, which is vital for evacuating farm produce, timber and the supply of goods and services to western North West. 

It is also the sole export route for industrially produced tea from the country’s largest estates in Ndu and Ndawara. Tons of palm oil produced in the Mbaw Plain each year are left to waste in the area.

The breakdown of the road has worsened year after year, causing travellers nightmare in the rainy as well as the dry season. It is probably only here that one hears of cars stuck in knee-deep dust.

A lifeline that runs through nearly all the divisional headquarters of the region, the Ring Road was in its worst state this year, with travellers suffering long delays, sometimes lasting up to a day. 

Around August, transport vehicles from the Ndu and Nkambe subdivisions were turning down women and passengers with heavy luggage, seeking all the lightness and muscle-power they could get on the way.

Organisers of the civilian event hope to ferry in thousands of people from across the region to put up what is planned to be the biggest political show in the history of the country. But the roads could be a problem.

As soon as they are dry enough, the worst sections of the road would be graded and smoothened out with lateritic material to permit delegates to the visit have a less stressful ride, said one official in charge of mobilising people from his division. 

A date has not been announced for the president’s visit, which would be the fifth to the region. But there are indication it could come up in November, exactly one year after it was announced.