Cameroon-Chad Power Interconnection Faces Delay to at Least 2029 Under Current Tender Timelines

The Cameroon-Chad electricity interconnection can no longer meet its December 31, 2027 completion target under the timelines set for major contracts now being tendered, with even the most favorable calculations extending some construction work into 2028 in Chad and 2029 in Cameroon.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) nevertheless continues to list December 31, 2027 as the expected completion date for both components of the Cameroon-Chad Power Interconnection Project (PIRECT).

The project was approved on December 15, 2017. The Chadian component was signed on March 7, 2018, while the Cameroonian component was signed on April 3, 2020. Both remain classified as ongoing.

Chad Has 21-Month Contracts Still to Award

A TchadElec tender issued on August 20 and published by the AfDB on September 3, 2026, gives bidders until November 3 to submit offers.

The first lot covers about 13 kilometers of 225-kV transmission line between the Cameroonian border near Kousséri and Gassi, followed by about 145 kilometers between Gassi and Guélendeng. The second covers construction of the 225-kV Guélendeng substation. Both contracts have 21-month execution periods.

Even if that 21-month period were assumed to begin immediately when bids close on November 3, 2026, the work would not finish until August 2028 — eight months after the AfDB’s current completion target.

The actual timeline will be longer. After bids are submitted, they must still be evaluated, contracts awarded and contractors formally engaged before construction can begin. August 2028 is therefore not a new projected commissioning date. It simply demonstrates that the existing December 2027 deadline is already incompatible with the procurement schedule.

The tender also does not cover all the infrastructure planned in Chad. The current scope of PIRECT includes 238 kilometers of 225-kV transmission lines on the Chadian side, compared with about 158 kilometers covered by the August tender. That leaves roughly 80 kilometers outside the current procurement process.

The planned infrastructure at Gassi and Bongor is also not fully covered by the two lots now being tendered. The procedure alone therefore cannot establish a new completion date for the Chadian component.

Cameroon’s Contract Timelines Already Extend Into 2029

The gap is even wider in Cameroon. On August 12 and 13, 2026, the AfDB published tenders from electricity transmission company Sonatrel for high-voltage lines and substations under the first phase of the interconnection.

The transmission-line tenders cover 419.6 kilometers: 227 kilometers between Wouro-Soua and Garoua 2, 10.6 kilometers of connections around Garoua 2, 180 kilometers between Maroua and Kousséri, and two kilometers between Kousséri and the Chadian border.

Bids for the transmission lines are due November 19, 2026, while bids for the substations are due November 18. According to Sonatrel documents previously reviewed by Investir au Cameroun, the construction period is 34 months after contracts are signed.

Even under the unrealistic assumption that those 34 months began as soon as bids close in November 2026, construction would continue until September 2029, nearly two years beyond the AfDB’s current deadline. Bid evaluation, contract awards and contracting will necessarily move the actual starting point beyond November.

More Infrastructure Still Needs to Be Tendered

The contracts now open for bidding also cover only part of the planned cross-border infrastructure.

PIRECT’s official website says the project includes about 804 kilometers of 225-kV transmission lines, with 566 kilometers in Cameroon and 238 kilometers in Chad, to be developed in two phases.

The 419.6 kilometers currently under procurement in Cameroon therefore leave 146.4 kilometers outside this first tender process.

The program also calls for five new 225-kV substations — Garoua, Kousséri and Yagoua in Cameroon, and Bongor and Guélendeng in Chad — as well as extensions to the existing Wouro-Soua, Maroua and Gassi substations.

The interconnection can become fully operational only once the necessary infrastructure is available on both sides of the border. The execution periods attached to contracts launched in 2026 are therefore already enough to rule out full completion by December 31, 2027 under the current schedule.

No revised official completion or commissioning date has been published in the sources reviewed. The eventual length of the delay will depend on when contracts are awarded and construction begins, as well as the timetable for infrastructure that has yet to enter the current tender processes.

Baudouin Enama