Construction of Cameroon's Kribi deep seaport begins this Friday. This is expected to greatly ease congestion at the Douala port.

A creek port, Doula, Cameroon's main port, also serving her landlocked neighbours, has been expensive to maintain. This has had adverse impact on the cost of goods transported through it, making it a less attractive entry point.

Bigger ships, which have hitherto avoided Cameroon, will also be able to land, bringing down the cost of water transport due to economies of scale.

One of the reasons for the delay were protests by the landowners, demanding compensation which has now been dealt with after a $8 million instalment was paid to the landowners.

The other reason for the delay was the non-disbursement of $72 million by the Cameroon Government, which was its contribution towards financing of the first phase of the work.

Renegotiations

The Chinese partners have agreed to an initial $24 million with the rest expected later.

The first phase of the Kribi port project, co-funded by China and Cameroon, is estimated to cost $414 million with construction contracted to the China Harbour Engineering Company.

The work is expected to last 36 months and the first ships are expected to berth at the port docks in 2014.

Posted Wednesday, July 13 2011 at 14:51 (Africa Review Website)