(Business in Cameroon) - The Société Camerounaise des Dépôts Pétroliers (SCDP – Cameroonian Company of Oil Depots) is planning to extend its installations to the Bakassi peninsula, a territory which has been at the centre of a long border conflict with Nigeria, between 1994 and 2002. The revelation was made in a communiqué from the Conseil d'Appui à la Réalisation des contrats de Partenariats (CARPA – Support Council for the Completion of Partnership Contracts), which lists three projects recently approved through this financing and project completion mechanism.

The ambition of SCDP to build a storage unit for oil products in this area in South-West Cameroon is part of the development of this area, which the Cameroonian State is consistently developing and on which it is encouraging settlement by nationals (the majority of the population is Nigerian). These actions have been taking place since the decision by the Hague Tribunal on 10 October 2002 acknowledging the sovereignty of Cameroon over this land.

SCDP is the second public company with plans on this peninsula reputed to be very rich in oil and halieutic resources. Indeed, Pamol, a public company operating in the palm oil sector in the South-West, is currently developing a project for the expansion of its farms (500 hectares) in Bakassi, in order to be able to create about 5,000 jobs.

According to the statistics from the Coordination and Monitoring Committee of priority projects on the Bakassi peninsula, steered by the Office of the Prime Minister, the State of Cameroon has already invested over FCfa 20 billion in the construction of basic infrastructure on this peninsula.

Brice R. Mbodiam