Transportation Infrastructure and Policy

The post-colonial leadership in Cameroon, like their colonial predecessors, is, at least officially, quite aware of the importance of transportation infrastructure for economic and other development. The foregoing notwithstanding, the post-colonial authorities have undertaken a number of noticeable developments in the transportation policy arena. This chapter includes promoting understanding of the following aspects of the country&s;s transportation system: history, institutional framework, public transport facilities, and road classification system. It explores the implications of the country&s;s transport policy for different societal groups. The chapter discusses the history of transportation in Cameroon. Economic reasons were at the heart the German decision to add the vast areas of land formerly under French colonial rule to Cameroon under the Franco-German Agreement of 4 November 1911. The French controlled four-fifths of colonial Cameroon as a trust territory of the League of Nations from 1919 to 1960. The chapter discusses the variable impact of isolating an area on members of the area&s;s population.