(Business in Cameroon) - During his recent presentation before the National Assembly to defend the budget of his ministerial department, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, the Minister of Water and Energy (Minee) addressed the issue of wooden poles used to transport electricity to Cameroonian households.
According to the Minee, only 20,000 poles were replaced in 2019 by Eneo compared to 40,000 in 2018. According to the official, this 50% decrease is due to the security crisis in the Northwest.
At the same time, he announced that 50,000 (including 13,500 concrete and 36,500 wood) and 40,000 poles will be replaced in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
To achieve this performance, “it is necessary for the Ministry of Forests to grant an authorization to Eneo and the national agency for forest development to use the 55,000 wooden poles identified in the Western region (Baleng, Bazou, Bana) since the forests of the Northwest are inaccessible due to security reasons.”
According to the official, there is just over 1,300,000 poles in the Cameroonian distribution networks. Most of those poles are made from wood and face constraints that increase the frequency and duration of power outages.
SA