(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon’s PM Joseph Dion Ngute announced the government’s plan to build 550 new housing units in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé next year. He was delivering his general policy speech on November 30, 2023, at the National Assembly, but gave no specific details on how this ambitious goal will be achieved.

Addressing the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly on December 4, 2023, Minister of Housing and Urban Development (Minhdu) Célestine Ketcha Courtès shed light on part of the plan. She disclosed that her ministry aims to construct 175 residences as part of a broader project in collaboration with the Italian firm Pizzarotti, which involves the construction of 10,000 social housing units and related collective social facilities. The approach for building the remaining 375 residences remains undisclosed at this time.

Official figures indicate that Cameroon faces a deficit of about 2.5 million social housing units. To address this shortfall, the country initiated a program in 2009 to construct 10,000 social housing units, coupled with the development of 50,000 buildable plots, including a pilot phase of 1,675 residences. The project has already delivered nearly 2,000 residences in the cities of Yaoundé, Douala, Bafoussam, Limbé, Bamenda, and Sangmélima.