The reality on the ground masks a financial crisis that has paralyzed contractual execution for several months. At the heart of this matter, a massive debt of 2.128 billion FCFA in unpaid bills—split between the Road Fund and the Public Investment Budget—is literally suffocating the private contractor. This debt, accumulated through unsettled progress reports, largely explains SOMAF's delays on the Bivouba Bridge–Kribi section. By mobilizing the BNTR, the MINTP is attempting to bypass this budgetary obstacle through sovereign action, utilizing specialized equipment to treat the most pronounced rupture zones. This is a rescue operation aimed at restoring a minimal level of driving comfort, pending the realization of the vast 148 billion FCFA rehabilitation program supported by the African Development Bank.

The priority is now to secure the transit of heavy-duty vehicles, whose tonnage regularly exceeds regulatory thresholds, accelerating pavement wear. The reinforcement of temporary signage and the optimization of material flows are merely symptoms of a crisis management effort seeking to avoid the final formal notice of default for the private operator. In this context of extreme tension, the 2026 direct labor intervention appears as a barometer of the resilience of national infrastructure. For economic actors, this administrative surge must imperatively be accompanied by a settlement of construction industry arrears; otherwise, even the elite force of the national brigade will be unable to prevent the crumbling of a road network vital to the country's industrial sovereignty.

CK