“The road brings development” is the leitmotif of most populations in African cities for whom the creation of new traffic routes arouses enthusiasm and great speed of appropriation. Indeed, transport infrastructure is often insufficient and concentrated in central areas, leading to serious mobility problems for users in peripheral areas. Paradoxically, the expansion of road networks certainly improves the mobility offer but creates other problems affecting the quality of life of residents: Most of the time the new infrastructures are unsuitable and unsafe for pedestrians and 'two-wheelers'; road congestion generates stress and fatigue and affects worker productivity while contributing to the deterioration of air quality through exhaust emissions;  lack of road maintenance causes rapid deterioration and reduces the efficiency of transport networks to zero.

Good urban planning therefore calls for the integration of different modes of transport into a coherent network adapted to the standard of living of residents. An urban or interurban mobility hub would therefore constitute a suitable and adequate solution.  In addition to the diversified range of transport modes, various services offered to users would allow them to relieve stress and optimize their travel time in order to increase their productivity. Faced with the great complexity of the challenges facing large cities, three ESSACA students have instead turned, through their PFE projects, towards intermediary cities to propose multimodal transport platforms in order to anticipate the challenges of mobility inherent to their development.

In 2018, student Nicolas Nstama presented a multimodal Road-Rail-River platform located in the heart of the city of Mbalmayo which rehabilitated the city's rail transport, suggested the navigability of the Nyong River and connected the river and railway infrastructures to the network. national road crossing the city.

Student Otto Marcel Dibong suggested in 2022 positioning the town of Eséka, capital of the department of Nyong and Kelle, as a regional development pole.  His proposal focused on a heritage rehabilitation of the historic station, a midway stop on the rail route between Cameroon's two largest cities Douala and Yaoundé, while establishing connections with the nearby national road network also linking these two cities in order to allow mobility alternatives.

The summit in this year 2024 was reached by student Marie-Ange Bonga Bonga with her multimodal exchange hub “EHOUMA NGUELI” in the expanding city of Kribi, and whose project will soon be presented on our graduation page. Indeed, the mention 'Excellent' was awarded to her by the eminent International Jury whose central backbone, gathered around the Executive Director of ESSACA Mr. Jean-Jacques Kotto, was made up of Mr. Francis Sossah of Cote d' Ivoire, President of the Jury, Mr. Mohamadou Machia from Cameroon, Co-President of the Jury, Madame Agripine Kouna from the University of Douala, Madame Minpo from the National Order of Architects of Cameroon (ONAC), Mr. Benitu Ciepela Ngoy from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr. Rovariah Okengue from Gabon, Mr. Harouna Traoré from Mali.

Finally, if municipalities look at multimodal transport hubs, it would be wise for these infrastructures, in addition to connecting different modes of transport and providing amenities to users, to also be able to connect the main attractions and emblematic buildings nearby.