There is growing suspicion that the Government Delegate to the Douala City Council, Dr. Fritz Ntone Ntone, and HYSACAM might block a British company, Carbon Resolutions Ltd, from setting up a FCFA 4 billion project for garbage treatment in the city.

Fritz Ntone: Not warm to competition?

The Douala City Council has till date not yet signed the convention agreement with Carbon Resolutions to finalise procedures for the setting up of the project.This comes six months after the Minister of Urban Development and Housing, Clobert Tchatat, officially gave Government's approval for the project.

At one point, the British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Syd Madicott, was forced to intervene.It should be noted that the said project is supposed to be within the framework of the "Clean Development Mechanism", which is an initiative under the Kyoto Protocol.

This permits companies in developed countries specialised in waste treatment to carry out projects in developing countries that are geared towards the reduction of green house gases.

Such projects are carried out under the strict supervision of the United Nations that annually issues Carbon Certificates to the companies so engaged, as per the tons of green house gases they each eliminate.The purchase of the certificates is seen by the Kyoto Protocol as contributions of the buyers in the campaign to reduce green house gases in the world and thus a contribution to global environmental protection.

Proposal For Secret Deal

Meanwhile, The Post, on January 20, learnt from dependable sources at the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing in Yaounde, that it was in late 2007 that Carbon Resolutions first indicated its interest to set a garbage treatment project in Cameroon.

But, unfortunately, the joint reaction of the Government Delegate to Douala City Council and the management of HYSACAM ((Hygiene and Sanitation Company) was rather cold.

In fact, HYSACAM was reported to have instead proposed a controversial deal to Carbon Resolutions, by which the British company would have secretly pumped capital and technical know-how into the project.

But then, the project would be officially carried out under the name of HYSACAM.

The Government Delegate reportedly backed the proposal. But The Post leant that the British company rejected the proposal.

Our sources at the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing disclosed that the Minister got to know about the issue when Syd Madicott led a delegation from Carbon Resolutions to see him (Minister) on the matter in May 2008.

The Minister was said to have found it inadmissible and scandalous that at a time when the Government is lobbying foreign investors to come to Cameroon, a British company with FCFA 4 billion to invest in the country, should instead be pushed around.

More so, the tons of untreated garbage in Douala were a source of grave environmental and health hazard.

Minister Convenes Meeting

The Post further garnered that in July 2008, Tchatat convened a meeting on the issue of garbage treatment, which was presided at by the Secretary General in his Ministry.

In attendance, among others, were the representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Nature Protection as well as that of the Ministry of State Property and Land Tenure.

There were also the Government Delegates of Yaounde and Douala as well the representatives of Carbon Resolutions and HYSACAM.The meeting was reportedly aimed at sorting out the issue concerning the different parties on the garbage treatment projects in the two big towns.

The meeting, it was said, resolved that another company, ORBEO, which was reported to have already started negotiations to set up a garbage treatment project in Yaounde, should take the nation's capital, while Carbon Resolutions took Douala.

The Minister of Urban Development and Housing reportedly gave official approval to the resolutions, through letters he issued to the different parties a few weeks later.As regards the Douala project, the Minister reportedly asked the Douala Urban Council and Carbons Resolutions to finalise the procedure by signing the convention.

Meantime, the negotiation for the Yaounde project reportedly moved on fast to its conclusion as the Government Delegate to the Yaounde City Council, Tsimi Evouna, reportedly worked hard to encourage the rapid take-off of the project.

The joint project by ORBEO-HYSACAM, known as "Centre d'Effouissement Technique de Nkolfoulou", in the outskirts of Yaounde, was officially launched on November 20, 2008.

Douala City Council Shelved

In view of suspicions that the Douala Government Delegate intends to block Carbon Resolutions from operating in the city, Ntone Ntone is said to be still lukewarm towards the British company.

The Post learnt that since the Minister of Urban Development and Housing asked the Douala Urban Council and Carbon Resolutions to finalise their arrangements, there has so far been no progress made.

Instead of the council negotiating or mediating, Ntone Ntone has rather asked the British company to negotiate directly with HYSACAM.But then HYSACAM is said to have posed conditions to Carbon Resolutions, which looks more like an indirect game by the company and Ntone to put off the British company.

HYSACAM is said to be insisting on a deal whereby it will own 50 percent of the shares of the project. This, among other things, means that though HYSACAM is not going to put in a franc in the project, it will get 50 percent of the profit the project makes each year.

Sources close to the British High Commission in Yaounde say Carbon Resolutions is not willing to go in for such an arrangement, for it makes no sense.