Publication: Cameroon's Infrastructure: A Continental Perspective
Date
2011-06
ISSN
Published
2011-06
Author(s)
Abstract
Better access to improved infrastructure
services is an important engine for economic growth. The
poor state of infrastructure is a key bottleneck to growth
in African countries, and Cameroon is no exception. Between
2000 and 2005, improvements in information and communication
technologies boosted Cameroon's growth performance by
1.26 percentage points per capita, while deficient power
infrastructure held growth back by 0.28 percentage points.
If Cameroon could improve its infrastructure to the level of
the middle-income countries of Africa, the growth effect
could be on the order of 3.3 percentage points. Cameroon has
made significant progress in many aspects of infrastructure.
Across a broad range of sectors, the country has made
serious efforts to implement institutional reforms with a
view to attracting private sector investment. Private sector
concessions have been awarded for the Port of Douala, the
CAMRAIL railway, the national power utility, and the
national water utility (CDE). These arrangements have
generally led to performance improvements and attracted
significant volumes of finance. Power supply remains
expensive and unreliable. Cameroon needs to accelerate the
development of some of its prime hydropower sites, which
would greatly improve the domestic power situation and
potentially allow Cameroon to play its natural role as
hydropower exporter to the Central African Power Pool.
Cameroon's information and communication technology
(ICT) reform remains frozen at an early stage. The telecom
incumbent, CAMTEL, remains state-owned and receives
substantial public subsidy. The mobile sector is relatively
uncompetitive, operating as a duopoly. Moreover, while
Cameroon enjoys access to a submarine cable, CAMTEL's
monopoly control over the international gateway has
prevented consumers from benefiting.
Citation
“Dominguez-Torres, Carolina; Foster, Vivien. 2011. Cameroon's Infrastructure: A Continental Perspective. Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD) Country Report;. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27271 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”