Cameroon Road Project Stalls: CFA30 Billion Contractor Advances Unjustified by Progress

Nearly 10 months after the first construction sites opened, reconstruction of the Ngaoundéré-Garoua road remains largely stuck at the preliminary stage. None of the five sections has reached more than 5% physical completion, even though the four Chinese contractors involved have already received a combined CFA30 billion in advance payments. The figures come from a review of jointly financed road projects by Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Works and reveal a widening gap between the money already advanced, the time elapsed on several contracts and the work completed on the ground. The gap is particularly pronounced on the first sections, where construction began in late November 2025. CGCOC Group, which holds the contract for Lot 1 between Ngaoundéré and the bottom of the Mbé escarpment, received a CFA7.7 billion advance on a CFA38.6 billion contract covering 50 kilometers. At the time of the review, physical completion stood at just 1%, although 26% of the contractual timeline had elapsed since work officially began on November 27, 2025. <p ...