(Business in Cameroon) - Cimencam recently launched the construction of its pilot Soil-cement social housings in collaboration with Cameroon Real Estate Corporation (SIC) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. This was revealed by Benoît Galichet (Cimencam’s Managing Director) in a post on his Linkedin page.

According to the Managing director, the pilot houses will be completed by the end of 2020. They are simple villas) consisting of three bedrooms, a living room, a storeroom, two terraces, etc...) whose costs will vary between XAF7 and 10 million. These estimated costs are by far lower than those of the 1,675 social housings being built in Olembé (Yaoundé) and Mbanga-Bakoko (Douala). The overall cost of the Olembé and Mbanga-Bakoko houses is XAF67.5 billion (or over XAF40 million per house).

We, therefore, know a little more about Cimencam's involvement in the government program aimed at building 10,000 social housing units. Indeed, after about 12 months of negotiations, on February 18, 2019, Benoît Galichet and the Minister of Housing and Urban Development (Célestine Ketcha Courtès) signed an agreement for the construction of low-cost social housings in Yaoundé.

Galichet promised that Cimemcam would support the Cameroonian government in identifying and concluding less onerous partnerships with companies in charge of the construction of the first 1,675 housings.

Let’s note that for years now, the Cameroonian government has been trying to fill the huge housing deficit (currently estimated at 2.5 million units) in the country.

S.A.