YAOUNDE, September 7 — Chinese contractor China First Highway Engineering Company (CFHEC) has begun procurement preparations following its award of a CFA43.81 billion, approximately US$78 million, contract to reconstruct a strategic section of Cameroon’s Edéa–Kribi road.
The project covers 57 kilometres of National Road N7 between the Edéa–Kribi junction and the Bivouba bridge and forms the first lot of a wider programme to reconstruct the approximately 110-kilometre Edéa–Kribi corridor.
Cameroon’s Minister of Public Works, Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, awarded the contract to CFHEC on August 6. The company has been given 24 months to complete the work.
The project forms part of the Road Development Project to Improve Access to the Kribi Industrial and Port Zone, known by its French acronym PARZIK, and is intended to improve road access to the strategically important Kribi port and industrial area.
The official contract award identifies financing from an African Development Bank loan and Cameroon’s public investment budget.
Signs that CFHEC is moving towards implementation emerged in early September.
On September 3, the company’s international division launched a procurement process in China for high-modulus additives and emulsifiers for a road project in Cameroon identified by the code “EK.”
The materials are used in the production and application of bituminous road surfaces, while prospective suppliers are required to meet packaging and export requirements and demonstrate international supply experience.
The procurement notice does not explicitly define the “EK” abbreviation. However, its timing, the Cameroon location and CFHEC’s recent award of the Edéa-Kribi contract provide an early documented indication of material mobilisation following the August contract award.
The Edéa-Kribi corridor is an important transport link for traffic serving the Kribi port and surrounding industrial zone. Its reconstruction is expected to strengthen connections between the port and Cameroon’s wider road network while improving the movement of goods along the corridor.
The full National Road N7 reconstruction programme covers 110.05 kilometres and is divided into two lots. CFHEC’s 57-kilometre section represents the first lot, while procedures for the remaining section have been handled separately.
The investment highlights the continuing role of Chinese construction companies in African transport infrastructure, while the project itself is being financed through African Development Bank funding and Cameroon’s public investment programme.
For Cameroon, improving the Edéa-Kribi connection is particularly important because the road serves the country’s deep-sea port and industrial zone, making the corridor part of the infrastructure supporting trade, industry and logistics.