Abidjan – Like thousands of people living along the Logone River, Pierre Fissou, a teaching adviser in the Mayo Danay departmental delegation for basic education in the town of Yagoua (Cameroon), knows the perils of crossing from one side to the other of the natural boundary.
“I often go to the other side, Bongot, for walks and to see people. We are brothers with the Chadians. There’s just a natural boundary between us. But it has caused a lot of risks and sometimes tragedies,” he said.
For years, Pierre used a canoe, with a motor or paddles, to get across, in constant danger of capsizing.
A ferry was sometimes available, but it was often out of service. He remembers times when people had no choice but to swim, at risk of drowning in the swollen waters or being attacked by hippos.
“There were too many dangers. Bad things happened and people lost their lives, including some people close to me,” he recalled sadly.
Pierre recently made the crossing for the first time using the new bridge on an authorised visit to Chad. He describes the experience as “unbelievable”.
“The crossing that used to take 45 minutes or an hour took just a few moments. It was as if we were living on the same piece of land.”
For Pierre and for thousands of residents on both banks of the river, the new bridge is more than infrastructure – it is a dream come true, a reconnection of two groups of people who have always thought of themselves as one family.
An ambitious regional integration project
The Logone bridge, built thanks to financial support from the African Development Bank, the African Development Fund, the European Union, the Cameroonian government and the joint work of the Cameroonian and Chadian governments, is a strategic investment of over 578 million euros.
The bridge, which has taken five years to complete, puts an end to the dangers and limitations of old means of transport, opening a new era for cross-border trade.
By connecting the town of Yagoua, in Cameroon’s Far North, with Bongor, a town in southern Chad, the bridge makes a major contribution to regional integration, which is one of the priority High-5 objectives of the Ten-Year Strategy 2024-2033 (https://apo-opa.co/41b1JZt) of the African Development Bank
Visiting the bridge on November 27 this year, the Bank’s Managing Director for Central Africa, Serge N’Guessan, hailed the project as “a model of regional cooperation and an engine of economic transformation for Central Africa.”
The bridge enables the movement of people and the transport of goods, reducing logistics costs and increasing business opportunities.
Agricultural producers and traders on both sides of the river are already seeing the economic benefits: “Now we will be able to reach new markets, without risking our lives or our goods,” said Fatimé Mahamat, a trader who intends to take full advantage of the new opportunities, offered by the bridge.
The bridge over the Logone is already making its mark as a pillar of development and unity. For local residents like Pierre, the bridge is above all a symbol of security and way of bringing people together.
“We are all looking forward to the official opening: the celebrations on that day will be something to see,” he says with a smile.
This new transport link between two neighbouring countries in Central Africa proves that an integrated and prosperous Africa is within reach, despite all the challenges.
What Pierre, Fatimé and their fellow citizens have been given is more than a bridge across a river – it is a bridge to a better future.
