Yaoundé, Cameroon, 21 October 2021 – Officials in Cameroon’s capital have put their stamp of approval on a government-sponsored highway construction project that turns several administrative districts into a controlled urbanization corridor.

The Yaounde-Nsimalen highway construction project will impact the capital’s administrative communes of Yaoundé III, Yaoundé IV, Mfou and Bikok but is expected to show positive economic activities throughout the city. The overall objective of the project is to control land use developments along the Yaoundé-Nsimalen.

Jieutsa Leandry Project Officer at UN-Habitat said, the corridor between Yaounde-Nsimalen International Airport and the Centre central Business District (CBD) of Yaoundé will be a smart city created on the basis of the SGD11.

The methodological approach of the project was done in compliance with national and international guidelines for sustainable urban planning while integrating strategic and planning documents at the national and local levels.

Local officials’ capacity to handle future development plans was also enriched through various training workshops organized at different phases of the project. This included a capacity building training session on analysis and management of information with Geographic Information System and an exchange visit to Senegal where the stakeholders gained various insights to sustainable ways of urban-rural development.

The workshop officially concluded the Yaoundé-Nsimalen corridor project for which UN-Habitat brought technical support.

This project stems from the contribution agreement signed on February 16, 2016 between the Government of Cameroon, represented by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Land Management (MINEPAT) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

“UN-Habitat, through this project gave hope to the population of Mfou, Bikok, Yaoundé III and Yaoundé IV to live in a linear planning city,” said Frederic Happi Mangoua, Project Manager at UN-Habitat.

The workshop was also an opportunity for some 30 members of the Review and Oversight Committee, including national institutions, local governments and professional bodies, to review and approve the final report of the project.

LEUDJOU YAMBA Joëlle  Head of Division of the Studies, Planning and Cooperation (DEPC) at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MINHDU, recalled the importance of the project in the development of the country and welcomed the cooperation between UN-Habitat and MINHUD.

The approved reports include a justification, technical design, an urban planning regulation which defines a set of 159 regulations along the corridor area, and a socio-environmental impact assessment and investment plan which identifies sensitive elements in the project environment and recommends mitigation measures/actions to preserve the environment.