(Business in Cameroon) - Two months to the end of the Emergency Flood Control Project Pulci, launched in Cameroon in 2013, the World Bank (the project's main backer) is reviewing the progress made.

According to the Bretton Woods institution, more than 97 km of flood protection infrastructure and about 6,000 ha of rice paddies have been rehabilitated, helping rice farmers increase their yields and harvest rice twice a year.  

According to Semry, a state-owned company located in the Far North region and partner in the project, “2,000 hectares of rice perimeter can feed at least 4,000 families. 6,000 ha then feed 12,000 families."

The Emergency Flood Control Project aims to rehabilitate the main hydraulic works and strengthen natural disaster prevention and preparedness in Cameroon's Far North region. The reason is that as the rainy seasons approach, the inhabitants of the communes of Maga, Vélé and Kai-Kai fear possible flooding created by the Logone River.

For instance, in 2012, Vélé, a village that borders the Logone River, was affected by an exceptional flood, which destroyed crops, houses, and livestock. As a result, the Board of Directors of the World Bank approved, on June 11, 2013, this emergency project by approving funding of $108 million (about XAF63 billion).

To date, this funding has been fully released. The Project ends next May and in the meantime, 2,800 families have been relocated to the north of the country following the devastating floods of 2012.

S.A.