(Business in Cameroon) - According to the Hydrocarbon Fuel Stabilisation Fund (CSPH), the gas filling centre for the city of Bertoua, the regional capital of East-Cameroon, is 98% complete. This 5 billion FCFA infrastructure will soon help to increase the consumption of this energy source in that region with a cylinder filling capacity of 100 metric tonnes.
But, in the interim, consumers continue to use domestic gas filled at stations of Société camerounaise des dépôts pétroliers in Yaoundé or Douala. This practice affects pricing in the East region (8,000 FCFA per 12 kg cylinder compared to 6,500 FCFA with other providers). Vendors are therefore obliged to pass on the transportation costs to the consumer.
The domestic gas filling centre in Bertoua will be the second built by CSPH after the facility in Maroua, in the Extreme-North region. According to Boniface Zé, Technical Advisor to the CSPH, these investments aim primarily to encourage domestic gas consumption in Cameroon to fight desertification resulting from using wood for fuel in northern Cameroon and deforestation in the south.