Yaoundé City Mayor Luc Messi Atangana on January 23 officially took delivery of new equipment aimed at strengthening the city’s autonomy in road maintenance and rehabilitation. The investment allows the Yaoundé Urban Community (CUY) to carry out more road works directly, without relying as heavily on external contractors.
The equipment includes an asphalt mixing plant with a production capacity of 60 tons per hour, the first of its kind to be acquired by a decentralized local authority in Cameroon. It is complemented by a finisher, a machine used to lay asphalt produced by the plant. The total cost of the investment stands at close to CFA1 billion, according to official information.
“The asphalt plant is a complete industrial unit, with several components that must be installed on a suitable site. It comes with a finisher, which allows the asphalt produced to be laid on roads and other surfaces. These tools add to other civil engineering equipment recently acquired by the CUY and strengthen our autonomy in urban road maintenance,” Atangana said.
The newly delivered equipment complements an existing fleet that already includes a wheel loader, an excavator, a grader, a backhoe loader, four trucks, and four compactors. These machines were acquired between 2023 and 2024, according to the city authorities.
With the addition of the asphalt plant and finisher, the CUY is expected to reduce its reliance on civil engineering firms for road maintenance and rehabilitation works in Yaoundé. City officials say this should generate budget savings and speed up project execution, as works will no longer be subject to lengthy public procurement procedures.
“By acquiring this equipment, the CUY has taken a major step. The next stage would be to add a municipal quarry and a municipal concrete plant, to ultimately create a fully integrated municipal public works unit,” said Paul Dongué, former national coordinator of the “C2D Regional Capitals” program, financed by the French Development Agency to improve road infrastructure in Cameroon’s major cities.
BRM
