Announcement of Five Million Two Hundred Thousand US Dollars Loan for a Railway Project in Cameroon on May 27, 1970

~o/3-) • INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOF'I\11EN1~ 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 70/31 Subject: $5.2 million loan for a railway May 27, 1970 project in Cameroon A World Bank loan of $5.2 million will help to finance a railway rehabilita- tion and modernization project in Cameroon, designed not only to maintain present railroad capacity by unde_rtaking long-overdue relaying of track, but also to meet future growth in traffic that is expected to follow the opening in 1974 of the Trans-Cameroon Railway. The project includes purchase of locomotives and rolling stock, and an economic study of a proposed realignment of the central line between the port of Douala, the country's major commercial center located in the coastal • southwest, and Yaounde, the capital • Cameroon's transport system is highly oriented toward the export and import trade. One of the main priorities of the Government, for which it has made sub- stantial investments, is the improvement of transport links with the coast, both to increase competitiveness of exports and to integrate various regions into the national economy. Until a few years ago, the farthest penetration of the hinter- land by the railway system had only been up to Yaounde, about 300 miles from the coast. In 1964, work started on the Trans-Cameroon Railway, a 390-mile north- ward extension of the line from Yaounde to N'Gaoundere via Belabo. The comple- tion of this route in 1974 is expected to accelerate development of northern Cameroon and the wider Chad basin area, including the Fort Lamy zone in Chad. The Bank loan will assist in financing the rehabilitation of about 90 miles of track; construction of a steel bridge across the Dibamba River on the Douala- • Yaounde line; the purchase of some 190 freight cars and trailers; and consulting services to study further improvement of the Douala-Yaounde railway. /more Bank P.R. No. 70/31-Cameroon-Railway - 2 - The project is expected to be completed in 1973 at a total cost of $20.6 mil- lion equivalent, of which $5.2 million will be financed by the Bank loan and the • remainder by France, Germany and the European Economic Community, as well as by the Regie des Chemins de Fer du Cameroun (Regifercam), the State Railway Corpora- tion, which will execute the project. The Bank loan will be extended to Regifercam-for a term of 25 years, in- cluding five years of grace, with interest at 7%. It will be guaranteed by the Federal Republic of Cameroon. This will be the first operat1on by the Bank Group in Cameroon for railways, and the third in the transport sector, bringing the Group's total lending for this sector to $24.2 million. • - 0 - •