(Business in Cameroon) - State-owned Cameroon Development Corporation (CD) announced it will soon resume operations at its Ombe and Pungo sites, 5 years after they were shut down due to insecurity in the Southwest region.

The good news was revealed by the Managing Director Franklin Ngoni Njie, who has just launched a call for tender for the acquisition of two generators for the packaging plant. The machines will supply the plant in periods of power outages, Njie said. Bids are expected by November 9 at the latest.

The agribusiness giant, which operates rubber, oil palm, and banana plantations in the southwest, is gradually resuming activities at all of its sites. At the end of 2021, the Debundscha oil palm plantation in the municipality of Idenau was relaunched after four years of closure.

As a reminder, 12 of the 29 CDC sites were in total shutdown by 2018, the national employers’ grouping (Gicam) reported. Some sites had even become base camps for armed militias. The consequence was that 6,124 people have lost their jobs. Thanks to the rehabilitation program, some are being given their jobs back.

The Anglophone war in the Northwest and Southwest regions has hit CDC's operations hard.  In 2019 and 2020, the company generated a negative net result of over CFA18 billion, according to official data from the Ministry of Finance. The resumption of operations is expected to bring some relief.

Written by S.A.

Translated from French by Firmine AIZAN