(Business in Cameroon) - Till October 16, in Lomié, the Ministry of Environment will preside over public hearings in the framework of the environmental and social impact assessment for the construction of the Lomié integrated industrial wood processing complex (Ciblo). The public hearings aim to collect the population’s views and comments for the study.

According to the ministry, this project will be backed by Naaz Trading Cameroon, a subsidiary of Dubai company Naaz Trading DMC that operates worldwide in several sectors like mining, agribusiness, and wood.  

"Ultimately, Ciblo will allow local craftsmen and carpenters to get legal and quality dried wood. This will reduce delivery times and reduce the importation of furniture from Asian countries. Ciblo could also be beneficial for countries like Congo and the Central African Republic that can send their raw timber for processing since the raw log export ban will officially become effective in 2023 in the Congo Basin," explains Gérard Lomié, Mayor of the host town Lomié. 

For the town official, the project will cost XAF50 billion if the plant is developed enough to produce medium Density Fiberboard (building material used in the furniture interior design industry) and Oriented strand board (thin lamellar panels) by processing the residues of all sawmills and logging operators in the area.

"In 2022, Naaz Trading will invest XAF2.5 billion for the construction of the primary processing line, a large capacity dryer, and a solid wood panel manufacturing unit.  The construction of the first processing line is expected to start in January 2022,” explains Mr. Lomié.

In the meantime, the commune has acquired a 59-hectare area for the creation of Ciblo. Ciblo is planning to federate 152 community forests and two communal forests spanning over 608,000 hectares identified in the eight surrounding communities. These forests guarantee the production of 30,000 metric cubes of raw timber and 120,000 metric cubes of sawn timber yearly. This means that an average of 150,000 metric cubes of wood is available for processing yearly by Ciblo. 

The Ciblo project has been in hibernation since 2014. The first financial partner for this project was the Canadian "Synergies Bois". But, according to the mayor, the Canadian partner left because of administrative delays.

Sylvain Andzongo