By Bless Zoshe
Buea, Cameroon
The population of Buea has been expressing their frustration following the scraping off of the middle divide along the main road from the Mile 17 bus station to the police roundabout.
The project, set to cost FCFA 2Billion, is part of the ongoing infrastructural development plan for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Cameroon’s reunification. The decision to scrape the middle divide is said to have stemmed from concerns that using only one of the lanes will be largely insufficient for the Presidential convoy.
Dug middle divide in Mile 17 road, Buea
Reacting to the situation, a Buea based civil society activist (name withheld) described the project as an absolute waste of state resources.
“It is the craziest thing anyone can imagine. In development parlance we talk of ‘build-operate-and transfer’, not ‘build-destroy-and renovate’. So it does not make sense for somebody to push out something that was made years ago, because one person is going to be here for two or three hours, and rebuild it. It is actually crazy. The President’s convoy can go on one side of the road like any other; there is no special thing about the President’s convoy that has to perturb traffic for a couple of hours. And Two Billion Francs is spent for such projects. That money would have been used for something else.”
Eban Kingsley, a businessman laments on the impact of the road works on incompetent drivers “that decision was not the best. There will be lots of accidents, and many of the drivers are not used to the Highway Code, so am really afraid.”
Others say they are simply embarrassed that such sum is spent on scabbing the road when Buea has gone for year without portable water.
Speaking to some drivers, they confirm that it is particularly difficult for them, especially with children crossing the road. “It will lead to many accidents. In the first week alone, we had two accidents. So I think it is not good. Also, children had been used to the divide to help them cross the road. Now, it will be very difficult to control them. However, since they have decided to do it that way, we only need to follow the rules and drive more safely,” one of them said.
Meanwhile, officials of the company executing the works (Arab Contractors) complain of threats and harassment on their workers by inhabitants.
“Our safety workers face serious difficulties with the population. We have had cases of fights, where our safety workers are being beaten for doing their job. I have here in my office an iron bar which a driver used to hit one of our workers,” the Chief of Personnel told iCameroon.
As the CFA 2Billion road project continues, Buea inhabitants now have no choice than to cope with the increasing number of accidents, dust, and denser traffic holdups.
