(Business in Cameroon) - On August 15, 2019, almost a month after his visit in Cameroon, Makonnen Asmaron, president of Italian group Piccini, signed a note promising to pay the salary arrears owed to those who worked on the construction of Olembe Sports Complex.

In the note, the president indicated that the payment will be done gradually. The first tranche of XAF250 million will be paid starting from August 23, 2019. The second of XAF300 million will be paid around the end of August 2019. “The remaining balance will be paid by the end of September 2019,” Makonnen Asmaron promised.

He also confirms that technical measures are being taken to relaunch the construction that was stopped weeks ago because of cash-flow problems and repeated workers’ strike. This led to a meeting between Makonnen Asmaron and Cameroonian minister of finance Louis Paul Motaze on July 24, 2019. The meeting solicited surety-bond agreement from the government. The issue of this request is still unknown.  

Let’s note that Piccini was awarded the construction of Olembe Sports Complex for XAF163 billion in the framework of the AFCON2019 which Cameroon should have hosted. The infrastructure that should have been delivered in September 2018 is not yet completed.

S.A