Cameroon has issued a notice for the expression of interest for a partnership in establishing a bitumen production unit, the Ministry of Public Works (MINTP) said in a statement to APA on Monday.
By Felix Cyriaque Ebole Bola
Designed for local and sub-regional use, this unit would, according to the government, reduce the cost of road works, create direct and indirect jobs, reduce imports, improve the balance of trade and develop the value chain.
The state thus intends, through this international public tender, to promote, encourage and supervise initiatives through facilitations, “even the taking of shares or sharing of risks of public/private partnership, through a suitable legal framework.”
This idea took shape during a cabinet meeting in Yaoundé on May 25.
At this session of government regulation, MINTP had explained that the rising cost of road infrastructure in the country was largely due to “changes in the price of key inputs such as cement, iron, bitumen and aggregates.”
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS), imports of cokes of bitumen and other oil residues increased by 304 percent between 2017 and 2018, representing expenditures up 303.7 percent on the balance of payments.
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