The strategy needs to be accompanied by infrastructural development and legal instruments.

Following the launch of a process to draft a national industrialisation master plan for Cameroon yesterday May 16 by the Minister of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, all eyes are now focused on the would-be document to overhaul the industrialisation sector in the country. Once available, it will serve as a guide for stakeholders to step up local processing of agricultural, mining and forestry products so as to increase their competitiveness in the world market.

Cameroon is endowed with enormous natural resources whose insufficient processing, owing to multifaceted reasons, has kept the country, like the continent, dependent on imports or exporting mainly primary products like crude oil, cocoa, coffee, wood and banana etc. Already, efforts are ongoing to process at least 15 per cent of minerals mined in the country. But the master plan in itself remains a document that can take the country no where if other factors are not taken care of.

Infrastructure

The country lags behind in energy and road infrastructure, indispensable factors for any sustainable industrialisation. Statistics show that of the 50,000 km of national roads the country has, slightly over 10 per cent of it is paved while energy supply falls far below demand, even for domestic use. But the Inspector No.2 in the Ministry of Mines, Industries and Technological Development, Tichaa Johnson, already sees light at the end of the tunnel. “Roads are being developed and there are energy projects on course. In an industry, energy constitutes about 60 per cent of the input because it goes into the processing of raw materials and once this is available, it is easy to do the processing,” he said. His optimism is based on ongoing hydro-electricity projects like Lom-Pangar, Memve’ele, Mekin and Kribi, that upon completion will provide needed energy to enhance processing.

Legal Instrument

The April 18, 2013 law on private investment incentives in Cameroon, Mr Tichaa said, constitutes a boost to industrialisation. He said after coming up with the master plan, there is the transformation framework (various equipment which can be used for processing agro-industry, pharmaceutical industries, aviation and various industries that can be set up). “There has always been a problem of incentives which has been taken care of in the law. There is an instrument in the master plan which is going to take care of capital because like in the law people are going to invest from five to ten years without paying custom duties and some taxes,” the Inspector said.