Utilities of Cameroon

utilities2

Power

Cameroon’s oil and gas-rich landscape hosts a number of consortiums in which the government body Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures holds minor stakes, such as the Chad–Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project of 2000. The discovery of new oil in the Myia field near Edea and a number of other offshore fields going into production has increased oil production in the period 2011–12. However, definitive government revenue and the subsequent fulfilment of pledged investment in social services from this sector remains unclear. The Kribi Power Station, a gas plant currently in construction with an anticipated output of 2012 MW, is the first public–private partnership of its kind in Cameroon. Ordered by the government and planned by its subsidiary, the Kribi Power Development Company (a mixed capital corporation with 56 per cent of shares held by the AES Group and 44 per cent by the government); the project’s cost totals CFA 173 billion ($357 million), with 25 per cent coming from shareholders and 75 per cent from a consortium of national and international lenders.

 

Waste

A long-standing PPP in Cameroon is the municipal solid waste management system. The private corporation Hysacam provides waste management services across 14 towns and cities, deploying the whole solid waste chain from collection to processing. Of its CFA 20 billion revenue, 85 per cent is state derived. Hysacam is bound by performance contracts set by the urban community regarding collection and cleaning timings within each vicinity.

 

Water

Cameroon’s public national water utility was transformed into a public asset-holding company in 2006. Under a ten-year lease, a consortium headed by Office National de l’Eau Potable took over the running of the company, which became Camerounaise des Eaux in 2008.

 

Telecoms

Privatisation of CamTel began in 1998. Its mobile arm, CamTel Mobile, was sold to MTN in 2000. The remaining part of what is still CamTel is state-owned (2010) and remains the only fixed line operator. In 2011, the government has suggested splitting Camtel’s functions to create a PPP-improved service. MTN and Orange provide mobile telephone services.