(Business in Cameroon) - Water utility company, CAMWATER, entrusted with the development, rehabilitation and management of drinking water infrastructure, is currently carrying out urban water schemes in Cameroon, and there is a strong French interest in this sector with 11 companies.

Cameroonians lack potable water. According to figures from the water distribution corporation, CDE, only 334,607 subscribers (95% individuals and 5% companies) are supplied with water, it emerged from a symposium the French trade mission of UBIFRANCE, the French agency for international business development, held on Monday June 17 in Douala, on water and sanitation.

It was an opening for CAMWATER, CDE and the Ministry of Water and Energy to sale investment opportunities in the field of water.

Officials of the French Development Agency and the African Development Bank were also present. Franco-Cameroonian partnerships and joint ventures are expected to germinate from this meeting.

From an estimated 20 million or more inhabitants, only 9 million people are covered by public water scheme. 20,000 connections would be provided in 2013. Last year, only 18,600 were connected by CDE.

Increasing the capacity of the 89 treatment stations and 29 stations seems a befitting solution, noted the UBIFRANCE trade Mission, in hand with the construction of new pipelines to new neighbourhoods.