Nouvelles

Never in the history of the Lom Pangar hydroelectricity project has there been mobilisation like what was noticed a few days ago. Stakeholders of the project comprising the State, donor agencies as well as local administrative and traditional authorities of the project’s site appeared, each determined, to contribute their quota to seeing the project take off. A visit to the project’s site at Lom Pangar, some 160 kilometres from Bertoua, last weekend moved both the donors and the government to accelerate preparations. The attitude of the population and that of administrative and traditional authorities greatly boosted the morale of the donors who promised to do all to see the project take off. The visit, officials said, was to allow for the donors to appraise the project so as to make proposals on how much they would contribute towards its execution.

The seriousness with which the mobilisation was done and the red-carpet reception served the donors during the two-day visit in Bertoua paid off. Not only were donors present in Yaounde in their numbers for the round table they were equally enthusiastic in pledging their financial support. Donors, through their pledges, hit the FCFA 150.8 billion mark needed to begin the project. The good news announced by the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Louis Paul Motaze sent the meeting hall at the Yaounde Hilton that hosted the round table into ecstasy. The joy was understandably given the belated nature of the project, its importance and the stakes at hand. The country currently has a below-average supply of hydroelectricity and the wishes of the Yaounde authorities, expressed in more than one occasion by the Head of State and other senior government officials is to see the problem reduced to the barest minimum. Experts say the Lom Pangar project will create a regulating reservoir and that there will be an improved water flow of the Sanaga River all throughout the year. This will help Cameroonians to have access to cheap hydroelectricity power during the dry season. According to a Senior Energy Specialist for Cameroon at the World Bank, Astrid Manroth, studies show that there would be an additional 130 megawatts of power at the existing Songloulou and Edea power stations and that the project will also create about 30 megawatts for the electrification of the Eastern Region.

This project, like others, that are in a pipeline are a jewel on government’s neck and executing them would mark a giant step towards improving on the livelihood of the population. With the financing already assured, the ball is now in the court of the Electricity Development Corporation (EDC) to give the kicker. EDC’s General Manager, Dr. Theodore Nsangou, disclosed after the Yaounde meeting that a tender for the dam will be launched in January next year while that for a power plant and transmission will be launched in March 2009. All these, he said, with the objective to have the first full filling of the dam in July 2012

Cameroon Tribune