Kumba-Ekondo Titi road : SW governor confident peace will fast-track works
By Nchendzengang Tatah
South West Governor Bernard Okalia Bilai rode on the 9-kilometre tarred section of the 60 km long Kumba – Ekondo Titi road on June 4, 2024, to evaluate the situation of the road. He carried out the supervisory mission on the project, which he said was important to the government, during a two-day visit to Kumba, Meme Division.
This reporter could see life visibly returning to normal in the road’s neighbouring communities. Farmers are coming back with plantain and bike transportation.
He could spot a Hilux loaded with SABC soft drinks stationed along the road together with hill-high packed drink crates – SABC products were banned and dealers gruesomely harassed since the escalation of the crisis. They were labelled as “traitors” to the separatist agenda.
At the two stops in Kombone Mission, a ten-minute drive from Kwa Kwa – once a separatist hot spot – activities normally unfolded. Cocoa beans were being turned as they dried up on the setback.
We met workers carrying out work on the gutters. With a layer of gravel thrown on this section of the road. Governor Bilai made in-camera comments to the stakeholders present during the visit, including security heads, the Divisional Delegate of Works and the Paramount Fon of Kumba, Nfon Mukete IV.
In an earlier comment on June 3, the South West Chief Executive expressed worry at the rate of the project’s execution. He had called on the respective officials to follow up on the project on the ground to ensure the works were carried out in respect of the time allocated.
“For this project to be realized, we need peace,” he said. Further highlighting the need for the forces of law and order to be given reliable information by the population to systematically trace out the pockets of resistance left.
Governor Bilai was optimistic that the steady return to peace in the area made away with the once prominent challenge of insecurity for the road to be realized effectively.
The road construction is carried out by the Rapid Intervention Battalion (with French acronym, BIR) to the tune of 40 CFA 40.6 Billion. According to reports, over 55 km of the road is found in Meme with just five cutting into Ndian. Works slowed on the stretch in 2018 due to separatist incursions and only resumed following Paul Biya’s announcement on the eve of 2023.
