(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon recently validated an emergency recovery plan for the electricity sector, Minister of Water and Energy Gaston Eloundou Essomba announced on July 18, 2023, during the impoundment of the Nachtigal dam’s reservoir. 

According to the official, the plan covers the 2023-2026 period. Estimated at CFAF400 billion, it will be financed in part by the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and other financing sources.  Specifically, the World Bank will provide CFAF180 billion through the Program-for-Results Financing (PforR) scheme. The African Development Bank will provide CFAF48 billion while CFAF172 billion will be sourced from other funding sources. 

The plan is the emergency phase of the 2023-2030 Cameroon Electricity Sector Recovery Plan (PRSEC). This larger plan requires CFAF6,000 billion in funding. It includes CFAF4,000 billion for the production of 3,000 MW of energy through public-private partnerships (Limbé gas power plant, Kikot, Grand Eweng, Bini hydroelectric dams in Warack, Cholet, Katsina Ala and Menchum, etc.), CFAF1,200 billion for the construction of transmission infrastructure and CFAF800 billion for distribution infrastructure. 

According to the Minister of Water and Energy, during the emergency phase, investments will mainly be made in transport and distribution infrastructure. “In the transport segment, the enhancement of substation transformation capacities will lead to an improvement in the quality,” of the energy supplied to industries and households, he said.  

Supply 250MW of energy to industries 

In the distribution segment, the plan provides for an improvement in the service provided to households and the connection of an additional one million households to electricity, and the conversion of one million postpaid meters into prepaid meters. In that segment, the plan also provides for actions to meet industrial clients’ energy demand, currently estimated at 250MW in the main industrial zones.

The main industrial cities targeted are Douala and Kribi. Douala is the economic capital chosen as project host by most investors benefiting from the country’s 2013 private investment promotion law. As for Kribi, it is home to a deep seaport presented as the most important port infrastructure in the Gulf of Guinea.  

On February 15, 2023, the Port Authority of Kribi (PAK) in charge of the management of the deep seaport, signed a memorandum of understanding with four companies. The MoU aims to develop a 1500-hectare industrial zone around the port infrastructure, with a CFAF550 billion investment that is expected to create 50,000 jobs. The four companies involved are Bolloré Africa Logistics, the French logistics group acquired by shipping company MSC in December 2022. There is also TSMA, the agency in charge of the management of the Moroccan port Tanger MED, and ICTSI, a Filipino operator active at the multipurpose terminal of the port of Kribi. The fourth company is CHEC, which built the deep seaport of Kribi and is managing its container terminal through a joint venture with Bolloré (now AGL) and French shipowner CMA CGM.  

Brice R. Mbodiam