Efforts by the Mamfe Council to provide quality interurban roads using pavements have been given a boost by the Government of Cameroon. The Minister of Urban Development and Housing Celestine Ketcha Courtes has handed over pavement bricks production machines to the Mayor of Mamfe Tabenchong Robertson Ashu and the Senior Divisional Officer of Manyu Awonfack Yves Bertrand.
The Equipment will boost the maintenance of roads in the Municipality. “With the pavement bricks, we are going to handle the municipal roads… roads that link to quarters and communities will be rehabilitated.” the Mayor said.
Appreciating the goodwill gesture from Government, Mayor Tabenchong revealed that the gift from the Minister of Urban Development is a milestone which strengthens the ongoing Decentralization process by empowering Municipal authorities to champion development initiative. Using the Chinese fishing proverb, the Mayor emphasized that, “this not giving the council fish but teaching it how to catch fish.I am very happy with this donation from the Minister. The brick making machines are going to help the council to repair its local roads.”
The Mayor has also thanked the SDO Awounfack Yves Bertrand for his push in making this a reality. He echoed that the experienced Civil Administrator is a dependable ally in the development of Mamfe
Job Creation
Apart from improving the quality of roads in Mamfe Municipality, the Mayor announced plans to train youths in Pavement brick fabrication thanks to this equipment from the Government. “…now that we are fighting unemployment, we are going to make sure that every year, we train at least 200 youths who will benefit from this project and take care of our municipal roads,” Mayor Tabenchong Robertson revealed.
The Mayor has further expressed his wish to recruit 500 youths before 2026 to be engaged in road maintenance through brickpavements. He is therefore encouraging the youths to take advantage of this opportunity to develop skills in Pavement bricks “because once they are trained, they can become self-employed and they will be hired to repair or construct our roads.”
Council Road Scheme Strengthened
The donation from the Minister comes to add to existing efforts by the Mamfe Council to develop it’s roads network using brick pavements. According to the Mayor the use of brick pavements is cost effective and durable
“We are using 15cm for the bricks compared to 4cm for tarred roads. With this method, if a particular spot is bad, we just have to replace them easily.” the Mayor said.
In addition, the local materials for the fabrication of these bricks are readily available in the Mamfe Municipality. Together with the available manpower, road repairs and construction in Mamfe using brick pavements will be done faster with effective results.
Located along the Trans African Highway, a realization of the Council’s road scheme will not only boost the urbanization of the Mamfe Municipality but also facilitate socioeconomic activities and boost security .