New Project Boosts Infrastructure and Land Services in Cameroon

June 2, 2025|Feature Stories

WASHINGTON, May 30, 2025 – The World Bank has approved $200 million for the Sustainable Cities and Land project to improve access to climate-resilient infrastructure and enhance land administration services in targeted urban areas of Cameroon.

Through a multi-sectoral approach, the Sustainable Cities and Land project will reach an estimated 2.1 million people in Cameroon who will benefit directly or indirectly from improved access to urban infrastructure and land administration services. People and institutions involved in urban development and land administration will also benefit from increased capacity, efficiency, transparency, and accountability.

“Cameroon has an estimated annual urbanization growth rate of 3.6%. By 2050, approximately 73% of the population will be living in cities compared to 53% in 2023,” said Cheick F. Kante, Division Director for Cameroon. “However, rapid urbanization has not yet led to economic transformation in Cameroon. Across the globe, cities are drivers of job creation and economic growth. This project will help alleviate major structural bottlenecks that prevent cities from reaching their socio-economic development and job creation potentials in line with Cameroon’s development strategy.”

The project is a part of the World Bank’s programmatic support to the urban development sector in Cameroon and takes an integrated approach. The first component of the project will focus on investing in transformative and climate-resilient urban infrastructure in Yaounde and Douala, accompanied by technical support for the sustainable development of cities in Cameroon. The second component will complement the first by investing in improvements to land administration services which have been critical bottlenecks hindering sustainable urbanization and private sector growth in the country.

The project preparation benefitted from technical assistance from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the City Climate Finance Gap Fund, the Global Partnership for Results-Based Approaches (GPRBA), and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA).