The Douala City Council plans to mobilize CFA3 billion over the next three years to build up land reserves, Mayor Roger Mbassa Ndine said during a community council meeting held on December 31, 2025. While the municipality did not specify the total surface area targeted, it said CFA850 million will be released in 2026 for the first phase of the program.
According to the council, the acquisitions are intended to support urban development projects of public interest, including the creation of a landfill or a waste transfer center in Bonaberi, in the city’s 4th district. The land will also be used for the construction of public facilities, social housing, and other collective infrastructure projects.
Preemption rights activated in four priority zones
The strategy comes amid a chronic shortage of land reserves for public development. In 2023, Marcellin Ndoumbe, director of the city’s Land and Property Agency, said that “everything has to be rebuilt in terms of available land, as the city council has not owned a single square meter for more than 60 years.”
To address this gap, the municipality has exercised its right of preemption since August 9, 2024, allowing it to acquire private plots larger than 2,000 square meters before any private buyer. The mechanism currently applies to four priority zones: a 5-kilometer radius covering areas such as Akwa, Deïdo, Bonapriso, and Bonanjo, followed by zones at 10 km, 12 km, and beyond 12 km from Ndokoti.
As of August 2024, the city council said it had received 43 land offers, with plot sizes ranging from 213 square meters to 44 hectares. By acquiring new land, the authorities of Cameroon’s economic capital, home to more than 4 million people, aim to build a stronger land portfolio to secure the implementation of future development projects.
Frédéric Nonos
