The second phase of the Nine Towns Drinking Water Supply Project (PAEP) can begin in Dschang, in the Menoua department of western Cameroon. On 24 April 2024, the local administrative authorities and the communities affected agreed to facilitate the installation of the Chinese company CGC Overseas Construction Group (CGCOC) and the start of construction.
The tensions surrounding the implementation of the second phase of the Nine Towns Drinking Water Supply Project (PAEP) in the town of Dschang are over. On 24 April 2024, Blaise Moussa, Managing Director of Cameroon Water Utilities Corporation (Camwater), the company in charge of the public drinking water and sanitation service in the Central African country, was assured of this by the local administrative authorities and the people affected. The Cameroonian authority was in the capital of the Menoua department for a working visit.
Since it was announced, the drinking water project has encountered a number of obstacles from the authorities and the people affected, particularly in terms of land ownership. “After fruitful discussions, the people, particularly those of Dschang, Fongo Tongo and the surrounding area, undertook to facilitate the installation of the Chinese company CGC Overseas Construction Group (CGCOC) and the start of work”, says Camwater.
Increasing the density of drinking water production and distribution networks
By implementing this drinking water project, Camwater aims to contribute to the achievement of the sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) in the town of Dschang by 2030 and throughout Cameroon. This goal aims for universal access to drinking water and sanitation for the population. The 2018 report by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) estimated that 77% of Cameroonians have access to drinking water in urban areas, and 45% in rural areas. These figures will certainly have changed by 2024.
In Dschang, Phase 2 of the PAEP will see the rehabilitation and extension of production facilities to provide a capacity of 7,000 m3 of drinking water per day, as well as the densification of its distribution network. Pending the actual launch of the works, Camwater is continuing to develop the Garoua-Boulaï worksite, launched on 28 August 2023 in the Lom-et-Djerem department, in the East region of Cameroon, and due for completion in 2026. The project involves rehabilitating the existing raw water intake, rehabilitating and extending the treatment plant to produce 1,800 m3 per day, and building a 500 m3 reservoir.
Phase 2 of the PAEP also concerns the town of Maroua, where five new boreholes will be built to provide an additional production capacity of 13,000 m3 per day, as well as a 5,000 m3 storage reservoir. Yabassi will also benefit from this project. In this town in the Littoral region, the work will involve rehabilitating and extending production facilities to provide a capacity of 600 m3 per day, and increasing the density of the distribution network. And finally Garoua, where water production facilities with a capacity of 25,000 m3 per day will be rehabilitated and extended.
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For the record, work on the first phase of the PEAP, which covered the towns of Kribi, Bafoussam, Bamenda and Sangmélima, was completed in 2021, providing additional daily production of around 38,000 m3 for all the towns concerned.
Inès Magoum
