MINEPAT is drawing up an infrastructural grid, dubbed, “Projiciel Planeo”. Everything being equal, the disorder that hitherto reigned in the distribution of public investment infrastructure in the country, where some regions or localities get more than what they deserve and need at the expense of others, may in no distant future be a thing of the past. Government, through the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), is working tooth and nail to ensure a rational distribution of socio-collective goods to the population. This is to curb anomalies like government creating, constructing and equipping schools, for example, in areas which do not have school-going people meanwhile other areas that would have put such structures to optimal use are languishing in lack or insufficiency.

Against this backdrop, MINEPAT yesterday December 21, 2010 at the Yaounde Mont Febe Hotel organised a workshop to school its personnel on the drawing up of a modern infrastructural plan and its use in the reasonable distribution of public investment infrastructure. Speaking during the opening ceremony, the Secretary General at MINEPAT, Paul Tasong, said technology is evolving and government cannot afford to be indifferent. “Today technology has evolved very rapidly and we want to ensure that our collaborators are up-to-date in terms of the use of modern technology in ensuring that socio-collective goods are proportionally distributed and address the needs where they are”, he said. The national plan in view, code-named, “Projiciel Planeo” is an infrastructure grid which contains what infrastructure is found in what region, division, sub-division and locality so as to guide in future distribution.

Like the SG, the workshop participants were unanimous that without a coherent planning instrument, there would obviously be disparity in distributing the infrastructure and which, in no small way, compromises government’s efforts of ensuring an equitable development of the entire country. By reaching the Completion Point of the Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, (HIPC), they said, Cameroon had renewed opportunities for finances to boost infrastructure development, which infrastructure should be spread out according to the needs of the population.

The Projiciel Planeo, according to experts, is on course and the first phase which concerns a census of all infrastructure in the country is complete and most Regional Delegations have been served GPS software containing the various infrastructure in their regions. The second phase that would culminate in the provision of software to guide decision-taking is on course.