Fred Vubem
8 May 2008
Cameroon has embarked on a historic and ambitious project to equip the country with ultra-modern sports infrastructure worthy of international standards. The project to span 10 years is to be carried out in three phases.
The first phase worth 272 billion was the object of a convention signed between a Chinese company and the Cameroon government yesterday at the Hilton hotel in Yaoundé. The project to be carried out on a build-operate and transfer basis by the China Machinery Equipment Import and Export Company, CMEC will span from 2008 to 2011 and comprises the construction of a 60.000-seat stadium in Olembe-Yaoundé, a 30.000-seat stadium in Douala and 20.000 seats stadiums in Bafoussam and Limbe. It will equally include the construction of a 30.000-seat sports complex in Douala with an Olympic swimming pool and 2000-seat sports complexes in Bafoussam and Limbe.
Presiding at the signing ceremony, the Prime Minister and Head of government, Ephraim Inoni, said sports is a factor of national integration and victory in international competitions gives Cameroon a positive image abroad. The objective of the sports infrastructure development programme, PNDIS, is to enable Cameroonian athletes train in the best possible conditions and equally enable the country to be able to host international sporting competitions. He said the project will also help fight unemployment. The Prime Minister called on CMEC to work with Cameroonian technicians so as to be able to transfer the technology to Cameroonians by the end of the exercise.
The general manager of CMEC, Li Shan Xin, said he was happy his company was able to contribute in the realisation of the Greater Achievements of President Paul Biya and pledged the continuous support of his company in Cameroon's development effort and expressed the wished that the construction of the stadiums will lead to greater victories for Cameroon's darling national football team, the Indomitable Lions.
The signing was done for Cameroon by the Minister of the Economy, Planning and regional Development, Louis Paul Motaze and for CMEC, by its general Manager, Li Shan Xin. The ceremony was attended by all government ministers, CAF president Issa Hayatou, and the Chinese ambassador to Cameroon, Huang Changqing, as well as a host of other dignitaries. This depicts the importance of the project.
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