The President of the Republic, Paul Biya, has endorsed two financing accords reached between the government of Cameroon and two donor agencies for the construction of a hydro-electric dam in the confluence of Rivers Lom and Pangar in the East Region. These include a FCFA 32.89 billion accord signed between Cameroon and the African Development Fund (ADF) and another with the Development Bank of Central African States (BDEAC) to the tune of FCFA 20 billion. This was on January 18, 2012 in Yaounde.
These accords, the endorsement decree specifies, are for the partial construction of the dam given that three donor agencies are still awaited with their funding to meet the overall budget evaluated at FCFA 193.6 billion. Contributions are still expected from the French Development Agency (FCFA 42.8 billion), the World Bank (FCFA 38.85 billion and the European Investment Bank (21.4 billion). According to the project’s fact file, internal resources already mobilised by the State for the project amount to FCFA 46.8 billion. Reports say the World Bank’s Board was to examine the funding on Tuesday March 27.
Worthy of note is the fact that the five donor agencies have different components of the project they are funding. The World Bank, European Investment Bank and the French Development Agency are to finance the construction of the Lom Pangar dam proper while the African Development Fund and the Development Bank of Central African States are partners dedicated to financing the construction of the hydro-electricity plant, the transmission line and distribution of energy.
On the project’s site at Lom Pangar, reports say the contracting firm, China International Water and Electricity Company, is preparing the ground for construction proper to begin. People whose property will be destroyed have been compensated. Last week, some villagers were moved from their old habitations around the site to newly and spacious houses in a new village code-named, “New Lom-Pangar,” some 20 km from the project’s site. One of the veritable hiccups to the project, adapting the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline to the dam, has been cleared. Government and the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company, COTCO, recently signed a FCFA 49.4 billion pre-financing agreement to carry out the re-adaptation. COTCO officials told the press during the ceremony that work will begin in April, 2012 and end in June 2014, one month ahead of July 2014 when the dam is expected to release its first waters.
Source: Cameroon Tribune
