afdb projects $1.34 bln grant for cameroon

Hi All.

October 5th 2009 The African Development Bank expects to grant Cameroon $1.34 billion in grants over the next five years to help it improve its mining,forestry and agricultural sectors.
Poor roads,railways and ports along with unreliable electricity and communications have prevented the West African country from diversifying away from energy,which makes up about half of export revenues,Racine Kane,the AfDB's new Cameroon country chief,told Reuters in an interview this week.
Cameroon has a rich potential in its strategic location,agriculture,forestry,mining and ecosystem but these cannot be tapped for sustaining economic growth because of bad governance and insufficient basic infrastructure" Kane said.
Kane said he expects the bank to grant Cameroon some 857 million in Unit of Account credits,roughly the equivalent of $1.34 billion,between 2010 and 2014,as part of a programme to improve infrastructure.
Cameroon's mining sector is estimated by the Ministry of Industry,mines and Technology Development to be worth about $100 billion,but production and processing of minerals like bauxite,cobalt,diamonds and gold has lagged.
Exploitation of all these potentials and opportunities are held back by poor road networks connecting production zones to market centres but also inefficient supply of electricity in quantity and quality for industrial processing,he said.
In short,the basic infrastructure sector is a sector with strong growth potential demanding huge investments.
Among the projects the bank would like its money to be used for is the construction of the Lom Pangar dam to regulate water flow down river Sanaga,easing the effects of drought on the agricultural sector and boosting hydroelectric supplies.
Others include construction of roads linking its six neighbouring countries to give it access to more markets for its goods,particularly Nigeria's 140 million people.
Kane said he expected Cameroon's economic growth dipped in 2009 to 2.3 percent from 3 percent in 2008 alongside the broader regional slowdown,but that it could accelerate in 2010 to about 2.7 percent.
Kane said his grant projection could change depending on Cameroon's performance and noted Cameroon had made significant progress raising the disbursement rate of AfDB credits to 36.31 percent in 2009 from only 12 percent in 2008.

Regards
Westcott.