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Donors dish out 557.5 billion FCFA to connect Cameroon-Chad power grid.

Surface power transportation still dominates in this part of the world

Cameroon´s donor partners have dished out some 557.5 billion FCFA to facilitate the connection of electricity from Cameroon to the Republic of Chad.
Business in Cameroon reports that the World Book took the lead by making available the sum of 385 million United States Dollars, USD (about 231.7 billion FCFA) for a project officials of the Bank describe as strategic both for Cameroon and neighbouring Chad Republic.

Meanwhile, the African Development Bank, AfDB, dished out 258 million Euros (about 169.2 billion FCFA) to support the same project.

The Islamic Development Bank contributed 123 million Euros (about 80.7 billion FCFA); while the European Union contributed 30 million Euros (about 19.7 billion FCFA”. The government of Cameroon contributed 93.5 million USD (about 56.2 billion FCFA).

The amount contributed by the government of Chad as counterpart funding was not disclosed in the report. Following this development, the news portal reports that government has just launched twin tenders dubbed, Chad-Cameroon Power Interconnector, through the National Electricity Transmission Company, SONATREL, with the launching taking place specifically on 17 August.

The contracts cover the erection of 225-KV high-voltage transmission lines and substations between Wouro-Soua in the Adamawa Region and Cameroon’s border with Chad in the Far North Region.

The contracts fall under Component 2 of the Cameroon-Chad Power Interconnection Project, known as Pirect, which is managed on the Cameroonian side by SONATREL.

The project aims to enable Cameroon to become an electricity exporter by supplying 100 MW to Chad from the 420-MW Nachtigal dam, built in the country’s Centre Region.

The first tender is divided into two lots covering the design, supply, installation and commissioning of a total of 419.6 km of 225-KV high-voltage transmission lines. That leaves 146.4 km of the 566 km planned under Component 2 outside the current tender.

The project coordination unit said the remaining section would be tendered in a later phase because budget constraints mean only part of the planned network can be contracted at the moment. The first part is expected to be delivered within a period of 34 months.

The second tender covers the extension and construction, also in two lots, of substations at Wouro-Soua in the Adamawa Region; Garoua 2 in the North Region; and Maroua and Kousseri in the Far North Region.

Bids are due on November 18, 2026, for the substation tender and November 19 for the transmission-line tender, as governments and donors continue to aspire to create an integrated lone energy market for the sub region.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3883 of Wednesday August 19, 2026