The country has moved from agriculture-based to a largely tertiary-depended one with Jiangsu Province as an industrial hub.
Cameroon has negotiated a seemingly irreversible bend towards emergence with key development sectors like industrialisation expected to power the economy to attaining the middle-income status by 2035. The Head of State Paul Biya has said severally that emergence is inconceivable without a vibrant industrial sector. Creating conditions conducive for genuine industrialisation as he said during the 2015 end-of-year nation’s address is non-negotiable. Tapping from successful experiences especially from countries that passed through Cameroon’s current situation could even be more inspiring. One of this is China whose spectacular and rapid transformation from a hitherto impoverished agrarian society to a formidable industrial superpower today is to say the least marvelling. China’s industrial prowess showcased in Jiangsu Province appealingly sends visitors wondering.
The Ingredients
From Nanjing to Suzhou, two giant industrial cities of Jiangsu Province, government authorities and actors of prospering private sector say technology which is fruit of in-depth scientific research and development has been the springboard of the province’s industrial blossoming. According to authorities, Jiangsu province invested 178.8 billion Yuan on research and development in 2015. Progress in science and technology, they said, contributed to 60 per cent of economic growth. And over 88 per cent of large and medium-sized enterprises had set up their own Research and Development. Jiangsu values combining science and technology, and conversion of scientific results. There are laws on the conversion of scientific results to encourage application. Industry-university-research cooperation is at peak. Here, research is well-adapted and targeted to solve a particular problem or advance a particular sector. Fruits are visible on the ground. Giant industries like Sunning Commerce Group, Phoenix Publishing and Media Group, Higer Motor Cooperation et al keep expanding and spreading their across the globe. The singsong of research results perishing in the drawers of researchers while the country yearns for development, as is the case elsewhere, is therefore far-fetched. Thanks to the Province’s manufacturing capacity, its foreign trade last year totaled USD 545.6 billion, with USD 338.67 billion as export earnings. There is therefore no way an economy can sustainably grow when more is imported except the imports are to bolster investments today whose dividends could trigger growth tomorrow.
Industrialisation is also synonymous with a developed and modern infrastructure. Jiangsu Province has a total length of expressway amounting to 4,541 km. About 2,679 km of railways have put into operation. These facilitate the movement of raw materials into the industries and finished products from the vastly spread industries to the various markets within and without Asia. Cameroon would certainly need more that wishes here as it has slightly 10 per cent of her 50 km national roads tarred, with an expressway still a dream.
The least of the requirements are not water and energy wherein Cameroon is greatly wanting. China consumes about 300 billion cubic metres of water and in 2010 she became the world’s highest energy consumer. Almost all sources of water and energy generations here are being maximised. Just a second of power outage or water cut is unthinkable. Industries cannot function where water and energy supply are epileptic.
