Officials of the Razel construction firm say they are discussing the matter with the Yaounde City Council.

After the construction of the first phase of the canal on the Mfoundi Stream in Yaounde some years back by a Chinese company, a French construction firm, Razel, was last week awarded the contract to carry out the 2.6-kilometre-long second phase at the cost of FCFA 47.9 billion. The construction is to begin behind the SCDP petroleum depot in Nsam, down past the Sofavinc wine plant in the southern part of Yaounde.

In preparation for the start of construction, Razel, has set up its field camp at Abattoir near a local brewery on the Air Force Base Road. The area is being bulldozed to give way for the parking of company machinery and construction of workers’ quarters. Consequently, the little Abattoir Makeshift Market - the remnant of the bigger market that was moved to the Nsam neighbourhood by the Yaounde City Council when construction of the first phase of the canal began - is today threatened with demolition.

According to the Razel Engineer in charge of Works, Nguessi Romaric, they will demolish all the makeshift restaurants and stores near the Camrail railway pedestrian crossing. He added that negotiations were underway with the Yaounde City Council to fix a date for the demolition. Nguessi Romaric was not sure if his company would pay any compensation to the traders after demolition. ‘‘There are rumours that our stores will be demolished, but we don’t know how true this is. We hope they will compensate us in the event of demolition,” noted Penda Lucy, one of the vendors at the site.

Meanwhile, at Abattoir along the brewery side of the existing canal, bulldozers are busy terracing marshland, farms and removing makeshift houses from the way. This is in apparent preparation for the construction of modern facilities on the banks of the Mfoundi Stream.