(Business in Cameroon) - The towns of Meyomessala, Melong and Nkongsamba will soon be supplied in drinking water thanks to a buyer-credit agreement worth FCfa 37.8 billion, signed on 13 January 2017 in Yaoundé, between the Minister of Economy, Planning and Land Development (Minepat), Louis Paul Motaze, and the Director of Industry and Renewable Energy for Norwegian Bank GIEK, Ivar Slengesol.

The specificity of this project, is that it will implement a technology based on membrane filtration, which ensures the very good quality of the water produced, as well as the durability and reliability of the equipment at competitive cost”, explains Louis Paul Motaze. Through the future water supplies, he added, the additional production capacity in urban and peri-urban areas will be approximately 20,000 m3/day, which will help in supplying 250,000 people and increase the coverage. Up to 70% of the workforce used during the construction phase will be local, all professional categories combined.

The Cameroonian government started negotiating with the Norwegian agency Eksportkerditt SA about two years ago, to finance the project for the construction, expansion and reinforcement of drinking water distribution systems for these three Cameroonian cities. The negotiations which resulted in the signature of a memorandum of understanding on 30 June 2015, followed by a commercial contract on 28 August 2015 between the related Cameroonian administrations and the private Norwegian partners, are intended to associate the technical, economic and financial assistance of the Norwegian Agency Eksportkerditt SA to the country’s development efforts.

This new partnership which starts with Cameroon through this first project, will generate new commitments such as the project to strengthen and expand a drinking water station in Japoma (Littoral region) and the one for the supply of 64 power generators in preparation of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) worth Euros 75 million.

Sylvain Andzongo