(Business in Cameroon) - Construction of the infrastructure to supply Yaoundé with drinking water, drawn from the Sanaga River in the Centre region, has finally been completed after several delays.

According to an April 22 statement issued by the Minister of Water and Energy, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, the works, part of the Yaoundé Water Supply and Surroundings Project (Paepys), have achieved a physical execution rate of 100%, following the completion of construction of dedicated power lines on April 20. “The next and final step, which has already commenced, involves the actual start of pre-commissioning tests before the official commissioning of this facility, scheduled in the coming weeks. These tests include individual and collective equipment tests, as well as the gradual filling and disinfection of water pipes. I thank everyone in advance for their understanding and patience," Minister Eloundou Essomba said in the statement, alerting the population to possible disruptions in water services during the aforementioned test periods.

However, reliable sources indicate that disruptions in potable water distribution, this time due to low water pressure, may persist in many neighborhoods of the capital beyond the commissioning of the facility built on the Sanaga River. Although its production capacity of 300,000 m3 per day (expandable to 400,000 m3) fills the current gap of 215,000 m3 in the capital (with the Akomnyada station producing only 100,000 m3 per day for an estimated daily demand of 315,000 m3), the Paepys facility will not immediately reach certain neighborhoods of Yaoundé due to aging pipelines or the inadequacy of the existing network for the new Batschenga intake and production station.

To address this situation, the government has initiated the Water Distribution Network Reconfiguration Project for the city of Yaoundé as an appendix to the Paepys. To fund this, the state requested a $35.16 million credit (about CFA23 billion) from Eximbank-India in September 2022, as stated in a letter from the Minister of Economy, Alamine Ousmane Mey. This reconfiguration will involve the supply and installation of 348 km of tertiary network.

In the aforementioned correspondence, Alamine Ousmane Mey mentioned that besides expanding the network from the Sanaga River, this project will create 29,248 connections for private individuals. A commercial contract worth $41,337,527 (CFA27.12 billion, according to the current exchange rate) was signed on June 14, 2022, with the Indian company WPIL Limited for the implementation of this project, whose progress status is not yet publicized.

Let’s note that the Paepys, valued at CFA399 billion, was financed through a loan from Eximbank China and on-ground works were carried out by the Chinese company Sinomach.