(Business in Cameroon) - On February 25, 2021, Paule Assoumou Koki (photo), Director General of the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority(CCAA), paid a working visit to Kribi, the seaside town in the southern region of the country. She notably visited the city's aerodrome, a 125-hectare area consisting of a laterite runway built for light aircraft.  

"We came to assess the situation and see how we can upgrade this aerodrome to allow more planes to land in Kribi.  We were also there to discuss with local authorities to know whether a modern airport can be developed in this city, which has good economic and tourist prospects. The Civil Aviation Authority’s mission [through this visit] is also to prepare aviation development plans," Paule Assoumou Koki said, according to the newsletter published by the Port Authority of Kribi (PAK).  

According to the PAK (which is implementing a new city project in Kribi),  Paule Assoumou Koki is planning to build the modern airport over a 600-hectare area.  "There is a strong need for an airport in Kribi. This need was presented to us. The managing director of the PAK and his collaborators presented the various development plans being implemented at the port and in Kribi. The discussions were particularly fruitful and enlightening. Thanks to the exchanges, we will be able to reaffirm our prospective vision and fine-tune our plans for the project,"  Paule Assoumou Koki adds.

From a seaside resort to an industrial city...

Even if it is still in its infancy stage, the project to build an airport in Kribi reinforces the southern seaside town's status as an upcoming economic hub in Cameroon. Indeed, the city, which is home to the 38km Kribi-Lolable highway, was once known for its tourist attractions. However, in recent years, Kribi has become an industrial city with the construction of infrastructures such as the 216MW Kribi power station, a floating LNG, and the Kribi deep seaport. This port infrastructure, which has a 15meter draft is still being extended with the construction of a second container terminal that is 750 meters long, twice as long as the first one. The port authorities also plan to build two hydrocarbon and ore terminals.

Also, a cocoa processing unit and a construction machines’ assembly plant (recently inaugurated by Tractafric Equipment) were built at the deep seaport’s industrial zone. Still, at the industrial zone, plans are underway for the construction of a 1-million ton cement plant as well as a refrigerator, air conditioners, and freezers assembly plant (ed. note: the plant will create about 1,000 jobs for a close to XAF45 billion investment).  

Thanks to all these infrastructures (both already completed or being developed), Kribi has become a real eldorado for job seekers. According to figures provided by the local representation of the National Employment Fund (FNE), between January 2017 and March 2018, 1,523 job applications were received in FNE offices E in Kribi while about 1,100 young Cameroonians were integrated into companies or projects.

Brice R. Mbodiam