Faced with shortages, the Cameroonian authorities want to improve the supply of drinking water in urban and peri-urban areas. In this context, the public company Cameroon Water Utilities Corporation (Camwater) is undertaking feasibility studies for the “rehabilitation, reinforcement, extension and construction of drinking water facilities” in 11 towns.
These are Bamendjou in the Western Region, Mandama in the Northern Region, Ngaoundal in the Adamaoua Region, Bengbis and Meyomessi in the Southern Region, Minta, Nanga-EBoko and Ngog-mapubi in the Central Region, as well as Nguelemendouka and the gold mining town of Betare-Oya in the Eastern Region. At a total cost of 38.5 billion CFA francs (58 million euros), the project is expected to increase the rate of access to drinking water to 75% over the next two years.
With an estimated installed water production capacity of 731,080 m3 per day and a total storage capacity of approximately 253,374 m3 according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS), Cameroon is not up to date with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) which calls for universal access to water and sanitation by 2030. Aware of this delay, the government of this Central African country is multiplying its projects. This is the case with the master plan for supply, which provides for the construction of 20 drinking water production centers at a cost of 51 million euros (34 billion CFA francs).
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Among the towns benefiting from this project are Manjo and Dibombari in the Littoral region, as well as Bambui, Bambili, Nkambé, Bali and Fundong in the Northwest. The facilities with a total capacity of 300,000 m3 are being built since 2022 by the Indian company WPIL, which specializes in the commissioning and maintenance of pumping systems. It is collaborating with the Cameroonian hydraulic company Nkah Engineering, which is supplying the pumps, building the water storage tanks and rehabilitating the treatment plants.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi