Some 14 containers containing equipments for the port's foundation arrived last week. Last Thursday 14th, the population of Kribi in the South region exultantly received a convoy which ushered in 14 containers containing equipments destined to start the foundation of the Kribi deep seaport. The machines, imported from England, are designed to drill boreholes on the seabed in order to determine the depth and content of the seabed. According to accompanying technicians, the equipments will be assembled in seven days, after which work will begin immediately. Officials of the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Territorial Management said a crew is also on its way to ensure the day-to-day maintenance of the equipments, which value and real cost was not revealed.
The arrival of the jacket platform equipments has inflamed the hopes of the Kribi inhabitants. In ecstasy, both adults and children trailed the convoy to the seaside, and watched the containers offloaded with amazement. "Truly, the seaport is here!" said a curious inhabitant. "This is a dream come true," he noted. The man however expressed the desire that there should be adequate compensation for indigenes whose property will be destroyed to construct the seaport.
The Kribi seaport project, which dates as far back as the 1980s, is estimated at FCFA 280 billion. From it, the country expects to benefit the exploitation of bauxite, iron, cobalt and nickel. The project also envisages a vast economic corridor for Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Congo stretches.
The seaport has two main traffics: merchandise and shipping. The merchandise will basically constitute industries, container, timber, hydrocarbon and cereals, while shipping will mainly constitutes vessel traffic. According to earlier studies, the Kribi Deep Seaport, located at the Grand Batanga, south of the city, has an inherent profitability rate of 11.5 to 16.3 per cent. The project will also necessitate the construction of several national and international road networks. These include the Kribi-Yaounde-Ngoundere-N'Djamena lane, Kribi-Yaounde-Bertoua-Bangui, Kribi-Ebolowa-Sangmelima-Mintom-Ouesso-Brazzaville, and Mintom-Nola-Bangui-Kisangani. Railways, energy plans and rehabilitation of industrial areas will also follow. fficials say with about 87 per cent of survey work already done, full construction will begin in March 2010.
G'day
berlinerbaer
SDL Price at posting:
14.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
