The Deputy General Director in charge of Passenger Transport at CAMRAIL led, from March 15 to 17, 2023, a tripartite CAMRAIL-Ministry of Transport delegation and a community of traditional chiefs called Mba Mbombog through 13 villages bordering the railway on the Douala section -Yaoundé.
Cette 8<sup>e</sup> awareness tour gave Dr Gilbert Nkana Pondy the opportunity to raise awareness among local communities of the urgent need to put a stop to incivility, acts of sabotage and vandalism perpetrated against railway installations and convoys as well as 'to bush fires which constitute serious threats to activity. <br> <br>Another topic of discussion was the assessment of projects to benefit communities living near the railroad as part of CAMRAIL's proximity policy. These include solar lighting, the construction of boreholes, latrines and dryers, and the granting of ticket sales agreements to local operators. <br> <br><strong><em>« Cette rencontre démontre que CAMRAIL est à l’écoute des populations riveraines et cela nous rassure. L’aboutissement des projets en cours va permettre une amélioration de nos conditions de vie. Evidemment, nous savons que le chemin de fer est important pour toutes les parties et nous nous engageons à contribuer à lutter contre le vandalisme et le sabotage. Pour cela, nous allons aussi sensibiliser nos populations et nos enfants »,</em></strong> <strong>assure Sa Majesté Nicolas Yebga, Chef de village de Songbadjeck.</strong> <br> <br>Cameroon's rail network passes through 163 villages, most of which have vigilance committees to monitor the track. CAMRAIL provides each of these Committees with chasubles, telephones, boots and torches, among other items, to enable their members to be effective in their surveillance mission. The Vigilance Committees are also trained by CAMRAIL teams to recognize and report broken rails. <br> <br><strong><em>"In addition to improving the living conditions of local communities, CAMRAIL's proximity policy aims to involve local people in protecting and monitoring the railroad on a daily basis. We wanted to sound the alarm about the dangers and consequences of these acts of vandalism and sabotage, and invite local residents to redouble their efforts to eradicate this phenomenon.</em></strong> souligne le Dr Gilbert Nkana Pondy, Directeur Général Adjoint DGA/Transport Voyageurs <br> <br>For almost a quarter of a century now, CAMRAIL has regularly invested an average of 400 million CFA francs each year in communities along the railroad as part of its proximity policy. <br> <br>
