This incredible bridge, which cost £499 million to build, has connected two huge African countries and revolutionised travel for their residents.
The Logone River – a major tributary of the Chari River – spans across the central Africancountries of Chad and Cameroon and forms part of their international border. However, crossing the waterway is far from simple
According to Pierre Fissou, a teaching adviser in the Mayo Danay departmental delegation for basic education in Yagoua, Cameroon, “it has caused a lot of risks and sometimes tragedies”. For centuries, the only way to cross the Logone was via a canoe – a ferry service was sometimes available but often out of service. Often, people had no choice but to swim, risking drowning or being attacked by hippos.
There were too many dangers. Bad things happened and people lost their lives, including some people close to me,” Fissou told the African Development Bank Group(AFDB).
The Logone Bridge is now complete thanks to the financial support of the African Development Bank, the African Development Fund, the EU, the Cameroonian government, and the joint work of the Cameroonian and Chadian governments.
Having cost over €578 million (£499 million) in investments and taken five years to complete, a new era of cross-border trade has begun.
Fissou recently crossed for the first time using the new bridge, which he described as “unbelievable”.
