The Logone River – a major tributary of the Chari River – spans across the central African countries 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).
However, a new bridge across the river has revolutionised travel in the region and will save countless lives.
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”.
“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.”
The Logone Bridge connects the town of Yagoua, in Cameroon’s Far North, with Bongor, a town in southern Chad.
It is one of the high-priority High-5 objectives of the African Development Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy 2024-2033.
On a visit to the completed structure in November, the Bank’s Managing Director for Central Africa, Serge N’Guessan, praised the project as “a model of regional cooperation and an engine of economic transformation for Central Africa”.
Agricultural producers and traders on both sides of the river have already seen economic benefits thanks to the project: “Now we will be able to reach new markets, without risking our lives or our goods,” said local trader Fatimé Mahamat.
