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Chad: Transnational Pipeline - COTCO Hands Over Three Bridges to Gov't
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Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé)
26 October 2007
Posted to the web 26 October 2007
Lukong Pius Nyuylime
Three of the four bridges constructed along the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline by the Cameroon Oil Transportation Company (COTCO) have been found to be of great socio-economic importance to the surrounding populations.
A study carried out by the SOFT BUSINESS MANAGEMENT CONSULTING GROUP (SBMCG) has stated inter lia the environmentally friendly nature of the three bridges and consequently the need to allow them at the service of the population.
It was against this backdrop that the Minister of Public Works, Bernard Messengue Avom and the President of the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee, Adolphe Moudiki, on behalf of Cameroon, signed a protocol agreement with the General Manager of COTCO, Jacky Lesage to formalise the official handing over of the bridges on rivers Mougue and Lokoundje in the Ocean Division and Mba in the Lom and Djerem Division to the State of Cameroon.
Constructed within the framework of the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline to temporarily facilitate the transportation of pipeline material and COTCO personnel, the bridges were initially feared to have disastrous effect on the environment. Thanks to the result of the study of the SBMCG, three of the bridges were found to be veritable instruments of development for the local population. And as the President of the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee, Adolphe Moudiki underscored, the population living around the bridges had found them extremely useful and were demanding with increasing insistence that the bridges be completely rehabilitated for their use. "This request was transmitted to COTCO by government through the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee", Mr Moudiki said. According to him, the World Bank which ensured the scrupulous respect of the environmental management plan of the pipeline project equally gave its kudos for the maintaining of the bridges based on the Cameroon government's commitment to rehabilitate and manage them.
It is against this backdrop that a study on reinforcing the bridge has been launched. According to the Permanent Secretary of the Steering and Monitoring Committee, Augustine Ndum, the results of the study are expected in November this year as the Ministry of public works takes over the management of the three bridges. The bridges are considered to henceforth play an important economic role for the regions concerned and enhance national integration.
The bridge over the Lokoundje links the Mvengue and the Lolodorf sub divisions together while the one on river Mba connects the town of Betare Oya to Meiganga in the East and Adamawa provinces respectively.
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The three bridges according to the General Manager of COTCO, are built with metallic material and vary between 40 and 70 metres long. They have the capacity of withstanding maximum weight of 50 tons each.
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| Copyright © 2007 Cameroon Tribune. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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