Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife is trying to revive the long-stalled Ngaoundéré domestic timber market project in the Adamawa region.
On May 12, a delegation from the ministry visited the Sélbé Darang site in Ngaoundéré II district to assess progress on construction work for the future infrastructure, which will cover 20 hectares.
The project, estimated at CFA4 billion, dates back to 2012. Nearly 14 years later, the timber market is still not operational. To restart the project, the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife secured CFA250 million in 2025 to finance the first phase of construction, which focuses on developing one hectare of the site.
According to a report on the ministerial visit published by Cameroon Tribune, four warehouses, an administrative building, and a mosque are currently near completion.
Officials at the ministry hope to deliver this first phase by June. That target, however, still depends on progress involving the bridge and access road, two infrastructure components that could delay the market’s actual launch.
Authorities describe the Ngaoundéré timber market as a tool designed to better organize the wood industry in northern Cameroon. The infrastructure is expected to improve oversight of legal timber sales, strengthen traceability of wood species circulating on the domestic market, and reinforce monitoring of timber flows across the country.
The project’s revival also comes as Cameroon tightens its forestry policy. The government has started implementing a ban on exports of raw logs from 91 wood species, a measure intended to encourage local wood processing and increase the share of value retained within the country.
For authorities, the Ngaoundéré market could help further structure the domestic timber trade while giving operators a more formal commercial framework. But after more than a decade of delays, the main challenge now will be turning renewed financial and administrative support into the project’s effective completion.
Ludovic Amara
