Cameroon





Background



Cameroon, on the coast of West Africa, is home to 20 million people. The country is diversified and potentially wealthy. However, in 1987, the economy went into a steep decline and, by 1994, gross domestic product (GDP) had fallen by more than 25 percent, culminating in a 50 percent devaluation of its currency. Since then, economic recovery has been slow but steady with average annual GDP growth of about 4.0 percent. Before WWI, Cameroon was a German colony; two railway lines were built inland from the port at Douala, one eastward as far as Eseka and one from Bonaberi, opposite Douala on the north side of the Wouri estuary to Nkongsamba in the north. After the war, Cameroon became a French colony, and the Eseka line was continued to Yaounde, with a short branch to Mbalmayo which is now closed. In 1960, Cameroon became independent. Another short branch railway was opened from Mbanga to Kumba147 and, in 1974, the 626 km Trans Cameroon Railway 2 was completed with European funding, from Yaounde north to Ngaoundere. The network is meter-gauge, diesel operated, and almost entirely single-track; its maximum length was about 1100 km, but the operational network is now about 977 km (Figure 1).

    


147 The Mbanga to Nkongsamba portion of the line was closed in the mid 1990s.
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