CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Buea a town found in Cameroon specifically on the slopes of the great mount Cameroon is a popularly known as Fako division as it provides a cool and hospitable, political ,social and boosting atmosphere for all sorts of businesses not leaving out the rapid economic development in Buea municipality.

The study targets the population in Fako Division specifically Buea Municipality. The studies focused on the effect of traffic congestion on the performance of logistic service provider in Buea Municipality. Road traffic congestion, according to (Goodwin 1997), can be define as the impedance vehicle impose on each other, due to the speed-flow relationship in condition where the use of a transport system approaches its capacity.

Banjo (1984), also defined congestion as the saturation of road network capacity due to regular and irregular reductions in services quality exemplified by increase travel time, variation in travel time and interrupted travel. This paper looks at the causes of traffic congestion and mitigation strategies with focus on traffic congestion in Cameroon as a mirror, using South- West region, Buea as the major corridor of the traffic congestion center as a case studies.

1.1 Background of the Study

Traffic congestion has been a critical challenge in many cities across the world. It engenders a range of undesirable consequences that include negative affection on the logistic service providers and environmental pollution (Rao, 2012). Many cities in Cameroon suffer from this challenge. Particularly, cities like Yaoundé and Douala of a number of large and medium cities of the country are observed to be affected by the congestion challenges during different periods of the day.

Fako Division especially Buea is a typical; example. This is because of its road network, characteristic and requirement of mobility of heavy vehicles in addition to the normal city traffic experience critical traffic congestion challenge in these area, particularly during the peak hours of the day. Consequently, these activities delay the travel pattern of local people for the day to day activities and environmental pollution in these area.

In additional, experience of different policy interventions such as the creation of additional road infrastructure, travel demand management measures, reinforcement of public transportation system, congestion pricing, encouragement of non-motorized transportation system, limiting parking facilities etc. which have been tried in different cities of the world suggest that, these solutions have met mixed successes.

Besides, the creation of infrastructure, enforcement of certain constraints and restrictive measures and change in mobility behavior, which is sometime unacceptable by people and also incurs huge investment, making such projects economically unsustainable and socially unacceptable. This warrants acceptable and cost-effective remedial measures to alleviate the traffic congestion challenges in these cities.

Furthermore, transport is one of the key sector to the logistic service provider. It plays a vital role in the daily activities and it’s also serves as a catalyst in production, as it facilitates the movement of input to production points and evacuates products for storage or marketing. Its role is essential for all aspects of the social. Transportation, especially road transport, is a basic necessity for people after lunch and shelter.

Notwithstanding, with an efficient, safe and affordable transport system that offers the option of different modes of transport, accessibility to basic need can be improved; many cost can be saved; productivity can be increased, and thus human and economic development can also be improved. The resultant traffic congestion has become an impediment to our liability.

In a nutshell, a case in Douala is one of the largest industrial, commercial and public administrative centers in Cameroon; host many offices of many ministries and department, private sectors and non-governmental organization (NGOs).

Douala generate more than 40% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of countries and contributes 80% of domestic revenue to national government. Therefore, it remains the center of all economic, social and political activities, locally and internationally, and as such it remains the center of all kinds of paraphemalia and is the most populous and busiest city in the country (Setebe, 1994).

Mobility is crucial to function of cities as it affects their activities. It is also a fact that the economic activities of a nation is closely linked to its transport system. Hindrance to effective mobility is road traffic congestion, which the World Bank (1999) stated that it constitutes about 54.5% of all noticeable urban transport externalities.

This is as a result of the ever increasing urbanization, human activities and the resultant heavy dependence on road transportation that warrants increase in the number of vehicles, of different categories, on the road.

Of interest also is the difficulty of movements on inter-city roads and other major corridors due largely to obstruction such as traffic crashes, broken down vehicles or certain land use activities located along these corridors sheer traffic volume exceeding the road network capacity during festive seasons and some other major activities.

The demand for transport especially in cities of developing countries has been on the increase following the rapid growth and development of these countries. For instance, the rate of motor vehicle ownership and use is growing faster than population in many places, with the vehicle ownership growth rate rising to 15 to 20 % per year. (Odeleye,2008).

Traffic management has been quite poor in many developing countries, despite the growth in transport demand and supply. This paper looks at the causes of traffic congestion and mitigation strategies with focus on traffic congestion in Cameroon as a mirror, using South- West region, Buea as the major corridor of the traffic congestion center as a case studies.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Buea is an axis of Cameroon economy, road traffic congestion is a headache and burning problem for public and private institutions; and the inhabitants of the city in general. Congestion in the city is associated with an increase in vehicle queues and poor accessibility to work and home, especially in the morning and afternoon hours.

Serious traffic congestion is observable between 7:00am and 9:00am the time that most workers go to their work places, the hours between 12:30 and 2:00pm, lunch break and the hours between 3:00 and 8:00pm.

Base on the fact, it can be established that the majority of workers and people in the general report very late in their work station such as offices, market, schools and hospitals. This mean that some may report on time, although very tired and stressed and others may not.

Others face the problem of a few hours of sleep due to early awakening and late sleep, wasted time in queues, overtime work and a few hours to rest at home after work. The loss of time on the road congestion is determined based on more or less estimated queues length, congestion period and average queues speed (Hansen 2000). It is clear that people in Cameroon spent more time in traffic queues than in other transaction.

However, its economic effect remains largely unknown and is probably not well documented. Consequently, the objective of this research was to examine the effect of traffic congestion on the performance of logistic service provider in Buea Municipality.

1.3 Aim and Objective of the Study

The main objective of this study is to assess the impact of traffic congestion on the performance of logistic service provider in the Buea Municipality.

1.3.1 Specific objective

1. To determine the relationship between the existing road traffic congestion and the performance of logistic service provider
2. To investigate the problems caused by traffic congestion to the logistic service provider
3. To identify policies that may be put in place to reduce road traffic congestion

Check out: Transport and Logistics Project Topics with Materials