CAMEROON’S INFRASTRUCTURE: A CONTINENTAL PERSPECTIVE

# The state of Cameroon’s infrastructure

Despite the country’s rich endowment of natural resources, Cameroon’s economic growth has been sluggish, and poverty levels remain high. While GDP per capita increased from $680 in 2000 to $1,050 in 2007, average poverty remained unchanged at 40 percent over the same period and actually increased in rural areas—where more than 55 percent of rural households are poor (figure 2b).

Cameroon produces about 32 million bbl/year of crude oil, yet extractive industries account for only 8 to 10 percent of Cameroon’s GDP. Significant gas and mineral reserves (bauxite, iron, uranium, platinum, gold) remain unexploited (figure 2d). An oil-exporting country, Cameroon felt the impact of the global economic crisis and recently obtained a $144 million disbursement under the IMF’s Exogenous Shock Facility.

Cameroon ranks 164 of 181 in the World Bank’s Doing Business Index, and governance issues are important deterrents to increased investment. Corruption is ingrained at all levels of society, with 79 percent of Cameroonians admitting to paying bribes. The country ranks below the 25th percentile on all criteria of the Kaufmann-Kraay Governance indicators, significantly lagging its peers, and ranks 141 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perception Index. Enforcing a contract takes 43 steps and 800 days. Improving governance is a priority of the government of Cameroon’s revised development policy.

Cameroon’s 19.5 million people (as of 2009)sparsely populate the country’s 475,440 km2 (figure 3a).Whereas the average density is 35 inhabitants per square kilometer, there are important differences among regions. In the south and east, the average density is 5 inhabitants per square kilometer , whereas in the west and north population density exceeds 200 inhabitants per square kilometer.

Following the distribution of economic activity and population, the country’s roads, power, and ICT backbones are concentrated in urban areas, in particular around Douala and Yaoundé. About 50 percent of Cameroon’s population live in urban areas, which account for the largest share of the country’s economy. Urban population growth remains high—more than 4 percent per year versus 2.3 percent in the country as a whole, with peaks of 7 percent in Yaoundé and 6.5 percent in Douala. In the past 15 years, urban population growth has been absorbed by poor housing spreading out from the edges of towns, with growing density in low-income neighborhoods near city centers. Most of the urban sprawl has occurred without links to infrastructure and with poor access to basic services. The current urban infrastructure stock is almost the same as it was at the end of the 1980s, while the population has more than doubled. Nearly 70 percent of the urban population, and all of the poorest urban inhabitants, have no access to public utilities or basic services (World Bank 2010b).

But beyond urban areas, Cameroon has managed to developed natural backbones for roads, rails, power, and ICT networks, especially by the standards of Central Africa (figure 4). For instance, there is a visible North-South axis, and greater density on coastal areas. However, regional connectivity with Nigeria and the rest of Central Africa remains limited.

5