Lukong Pius Nyuylime
31 October 2008
Following the approval of Cameroon's project file by the World Bank Board of Directors last June 24, the World Bank yesterday signed four loan agreements with government amounting to 125 million dollars, about CFA 56 billion to finance four major development projects in Cameroon.
Mary Barton-Dock, World Bank Director of Operations for Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe, signed for her institution while Louis Paul Motaze, Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development signed for Cameroon.
Present at the signing ceremony were Essi Menye, Minister of Finance, Jean-Bernard Sindeu, Minister of Energy and Water, Helle Pierre, Minister of the Environment and Nature Protection and André Mama Fouda, Minister of Public Health.
The projects set out to enhance growth and reduce poverty in Cameroon through investment in the energy, environment, health and public finance management sectors.
The overall energy sector development project amounting to 65 million dollars, Barton-Dock said, will step up energy supply in the country's rural areas and improve the planning and management of sector resources by all energy institutions.
There are three components to the project: rural energy fund project, capacity building and support to new structural investments in hydroelectric projects.
The Transparency and Accountability Capacity Building Project to cost 15 million dollars will contribute to the implementation of Cameroon's new financial regime and modernize public finance management.
The third project evaluated at 20 million dollars will help build capacity in the environment sector, notably in the management of socio-environmental impact of major energy and mining projects in the country.
"The project will facilitate the flow of information between the affected population and decision makers", Barton-Dock said.
The fourth project, to cost 25 million dollars, concerns improving quality service in the health sector. Focus will be on mother and child care and contagious diseases.
"It is a credit the World Bank is giving Cameroon with an interest rate of zero and a period of 40 years for repaying", the world Bank official said in an interview.
The World Bank and the government, she said, will work together to ensure the effective implementation of the projects.
The signing of today's' agreements brings to 18 the World Bank's portfolio in Cameroon amounting to 544 million dollars, the bank said in a press statement.
The projects cover sectors such as education, social development, transport, private sector development, environment, agricultural and rural development, energy and mining, health and urban development.
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