Kribi—With 87 percent of survey work completed, the construction of the Kribi deep seaport could start in March this year, according to officials.

Last week, equipment for a platform, from where drilling of boreholes to ascertain the depth and composition of the seaboard, arrived at the seaside resort.

“It is a very important stage in the project,” said Alain Patrick Mpila Ayissi, an expert at the project in charge of the port’s infrastructure.

The machines came in 14 containers. Mounting is planned to be completed in two weeks.

Though denizens of the project site were happy that “the dream had finally come true”, they said they were still waiting on the government to disclose modalities for compensation to those whose property would be destroyed in course of the project.

The Kribi deep seaport is estimated to cost CFA 280 billion. Plans to build it, as a measure to decongest the Douala port, date as far back as 1980.

It is expected to serve as spring board to the exploitation of Cameroon’s rich mineral potentials.
Going by earlier studies, the seaport will have an inherent profitability rate of 11.5% to 16.3% on the country’s economy.

The port would serve mainly as export terminal for merchandise like hydrocarbons, timber, and cereal among others. CAMIRON expects to begin exporting by 2013.

The imminent completion of the project would necessitate the construction of more roads, both national and transnational.

A railway line to link an iron exploration site at Mbalam, East region to Kribi is due completion by 2013.

Power plants at Lom Pangar and Menkin are geared towards ensuring power supply whose demand would skyrocket upon port’s completion.