(Business in Cameroon) - The renewable 50-year leasehold granted for the construction of Marriott Hotel Douala has been canceled. The cancelation was ruled by the Administrative Court of the Littoral Region (TAL) in a decision rendered on May 25, 2023, and recently accessed by Business in Cameroon.

This is a major blow for the project and it is highly unlikely it will recover from that setback. Indeed, Immigration & Business Canada (IBC), the company behind the hotel construction project, received the leasehold on a little over 2.63 hectares of land, in Balia, Douala 1st.  The process took about ten years but, on August 10, 2020, Minister of State Property Eyebe Ayissia, and IBC’s CEO Olivier Chi Nouako finally signed the lease agreement.

For the panel of judges led by the President of TAL, Dorcas Mukwande Ngando, the process is illegal.  Indeed, four administrative decisions led to the signature of the lease agreement. First, on March 14, 2019, the Minister of State Property issued a decree declaring the hotel project as being of public utility. Then, on January 9, 2020, the Prime Minister issued another decree incorporating a little over 2.63 hectares of land into the public domain and allocating compensation for the victims of that expropriation. The third act is the establishment of three land titles (924, 925, 926 WA) in the Cameroonian State’s name and the transfer of the expropriated areas to IBC for the construction of Marriott Hotel Douala.

Disputes 

In April 2021, legal action was brought before the Administrative Court of the Littoral Region by a displaced resident. Another individual later joined the action. With Me Bertrand-Thierry Oum, a lawyer at the Cameroon Bar Association, as their legal counsel,  they sought the annulment of the Prime Minister's decree of January 9, 2020. According to them, this text violates the law of July 4, 1985, concerning expropriation for reasons of public utility.

According to the said law, expropriation for reasons of public utility can only be considered for the implementation of projects of general interest. According to Cameroonian jurisprudence in administrative law, this refers to "operations aimed at meeting the needs of the entire population of a territorial community (state, department, municipality), or aiming to achieve an object of general utility," they argued. For the plaintiffs, the construction of the Marriott Hotel does not meet these conditions because it "aims to satisfy purely private interests and commercial profitability for the concerned investors."

During the hearing on May 25, 2023, in the presence of the State's attorney, Me Gustave Tchatchoua, the administrative court, acting as the court of first and last instance, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. It annulled all the administrative decisions made to allocate the land for the construction of the Douala Marriott Hotel, reinstated the land titles of the expropriated individuals, and recognized the customary rights of those displaced. This paves the way for compensation for the damage they suffered.

A hotel project is not of public interest 

According to the panel of judges, the construction of a hotel complex, be it as modern as it could be, is not a public interest project. It aims to "satisfy private interests, particularly the financial interests of its promoter," and "the jobs it could create and the city aesthetic it may improve remain consequences or even collateral benefits inherent to all economic activities," the decision rules.  

Considering the behavior displayed by the State during the proceedings, it is unlikely that they will appeal the decision. Curiously, upon being notified of the contentious claim, Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute submitted his statement of defense after the deadline. Furthermore, despite being given the opportunity to respond to the involvement of another party in the process, there was no reaction from the State following the notification of this development, as stated in the court's decision. Additionally, the rendered judgment aligns with the conclusions of the public prosecutor.

After spending over XAF2 billion, according to their own estimates, the partners who carry the hotel construction project still have no site for the project. This may compel Olivier Chi Nouako to abandon the project. 

His case is not a first in Cameroon. A similar initiative -led by Société nouvelle de développement et d'investissement (SNDI) under Cameroonian economic operator and senator  Ekoko Mukete- was abandoned due to land issues. 

Aboudi Ottou