Starting April 2014, Cameroon will fabricate biodegradable wrappings to replace plastic paper, due to the pollution factor, the Minister of Environment, said at the close of last week.

It is a decision taken in 2012 by the authorities for the promotion of biodegradable packaging, Pierre Hellé noted. By producing biodegradable packaging, Cameroon will respect international conventions on the subject, according to the Minister.

“The regulation now requires any manufacturer, importer and distributor of non-biodegradable to establish a deposit system to facilitate recovery of the packaging for recycling,” he said.

In less than three months, government will stop all commitments linked to the 2013 Public investment budget but as of now only 34% of the budget has been consumed, a worry to authorities.

Now, they are organising a three week workshop from Tuesday in Yaoundé to reverse the curve, according to the State-run radio, CRTV. BIP consumption is at its lowest in history and government blames the low rate on insufficient project preparation, poor understanding of budgetary reforms, and the backbreaking execution of procurement reforms.

Hope of a 6.1% economic growth projected this year has been dashed because of the low consumption of BIP.

In 2008, banks in the Central Africa region had an estimated 7,000 billion CFAF of excess liquidity, 1,700 billion francs CFA in Cameroon, indicated the French language daily Mutations last Tuesday. A situation which, according to experts, will be amplified due to the difficulty in access to credit and financing of the economy affecting the private sector as a whole, and more so small and medium enterprises (SME).

Last June in Douala during a press conference, Fabrice Kom Tchuenté, Executive Director of Fin Afrique Consultancy, said the excess liquidity in Central Africa in general and Cameroon in particular was alarming.

Even if some owners fail to explain the paradox of excess liquidity and the absence or paucity of funding, the fact remains that banks are reluctant within CEMAC to grant loans to SMEs.

Trade between Cameroon and the United States amounted to 250 billion francs CFA in 2012, according to the US Ambassador to Cameroon, Robert P. Jackson.

The American diplomat reviewed the bilateral cooperation between his country and Cameroon on July 2, 2013, in Douala at the ceremony to celebrate the 237^th anniversary of American Independence commemorated every 4^th July of the year, Mutations said Friday, July 5, 2013.

For Robert P. Jackson, relations between the two countries have been strengthened since 2000, with the advent of the Act on Growth and Opportunity in Africa (AGOA).

In June 2014, the first vessel will anchor at the Kribi deep seaport (component of the Kribi industrial port complex), confirmed the coordinator of the project, Patrice Melom in an interview published in the Cameroon Tribune on Wednesday June 17 2013. Kribi port is located at a distance of about 200 kilometers from Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon.

The developer, China Habour Engineering Company (CHEC), a Chinese company working as an EPC contractor (EPCC), agreed to deliver the keys of the commissioned project to the Cameroon, Patrice Melom noted.

85% of the project is funded by China Import and Export Bank (China EximBank) and the rest is from the State of Cameroon.

It has two specialized terminals: a multipurpose terminal and a container terminal, and the first phase will create 2,000 direct jobs.

Initiated in the 1980s, it was only was revived in 2008, and construction began on December 27, 2010 after Cameroon reached the completion point of the HIPC initiative, marked by the cancelling of external debt and the possibility for the state to resume large investments, after two decades of structural adjustment.

AES group, an American company will sell its shares in the electricity company, AES-Sonel, a source told Investir au Cameroun, late last week. It holds a 56% stake in the company, and the State of Cameroon, the rest. “It is spelled in the contract that the shareholder can freely sell their shares whenever they want,” the source that refused to be named said.

He confirmed the American group has a potential buyer Actis, a British investment fund and negotiations with the company are “very advanced.” According to the site, officials from the Fund held work sessions with the Cameroonian authorities and General Manager of AES-Sonel in Yaoundé, late last week.

It is the second trip of the British investment fund to Cameroon within a month. Earlier this month, a team from the Fund was at the head office of AES-Sonel in Douala, economic capital, a field trip to assess investments then followed.

News of AES departure broke in the French media last month. Apart from Actis, Finagestion, controlled by Emerging Capital Partners (Ecp) company is also eyeing the shares.

A mission from the supreme state audit is on the field since July 22, 2013 to verify government projects carried out 2010-2011 budget year, the government said on Monday.

Logged in the Public Investment Budget (BIP) of the State, the auditors will go to the East, South and Centre regions to evaluate 2,235 projects worth 204.6 billion francs CFA.

Frédéric Biya Motto, CEO of Hydro-Mekin says the project will be delivered in May 2014. On a visit to the site on Wednesday, July 24, 2013, he said the access road is almost completed, and that the living quarters for workers of the corporation will be ready in two months, according to the French Language daily, Mutations last Thursday.

A progress report of work on the dam is “no great concern”, the project manager, Guo Dong Sheng said.

Over the Dja River, south of Cameroon, the 15 MW Mekin hydroelectric dam would reinforce the South interconnected grid and also supply power to all eight council areas in the Dja and Lobo Division.

On May 23 during the visit of the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare (MINTSS), Gregoire Owona to the site,  workers  here were bitter, denouncing working conditions imposed on them by their Chinese employers.

And, although not the primary employer, the GM of Hydro-Mekin, Motto Biya also wanted to cheer these hundreds of workers from all parts of Cameroon. “You cannot have a project of this magnitude without addressing environmental and social issues. Chinese standards are not known internationally. It is therefore important to dialogue so that everyone gets the best,” said Mr. Biya Motto.

The first work contracts were signed, and further, toilets worthy of the name are under construction, but the pay package of CFAF 1,700 per day is “too small,” said Luc Zam, a Cameroonian employee of the Chinese

On Wednesday June 5, 2013, the State of Cameroon would issue bonds to the tune of 20 billion francs CFA, funds to help government finance three priority road projects, confirmed our source at Cameroon’s treasury.

These projects are: The construction of lot 1 (100 km) of the Yaounde-Douala superhighway, the tarring of the Ndop-Kumbo stretch (60.5 km) of the Ring Road in the North West Region, and the construction of Road Number 17, Mengong-Sangmelima (74 km), South Region of Cameroon.

Winding across valleys and over hilltops, the Ring Road is seen as the key to unlocking the economic potential of the region, whose people are among the most dynamic in the country.

As concerns the Yaounde-Douala superhighway, the State of Cameroon is expected to bring 48 billion francs CFA to the table representing 15 % of the total cost.

“Anybody can pledge but only banks will send their offers to BEAC (Bank of Central African States) not later than 9 am next Wednesday,” Sylvester Moh, General Manager of Cameroon’s Treasury said.

At 3 pm, BEAC will announce the amount Cameroon was able to raise, he noted.

Cameroon will borrow the money at an annual interest of 4% to be paid after two years of maturity.

A holder of a 10,000 francs CFA bond will receive the principle sum of 10,000 after two years and 800 francs CFA that is 400 per year as interest, hence a total amount of 10,800 francs CFA by June 2015.

The German company, Ferrostaal, Bowleven and the state-run National Hydrocarbons Company of Cameroon signed on Wednesday May 22, 2013 an agreement for the supply of gas to a fertilizer plant, that Ferrostaal is about to construct in Cameroon in the seaside town of Limbe.

Said to be the biggest German Investment in the Sub-Saharan Africa, the fertilizer plant to cost most than 2.5 billions dollars (about 1 250 billion francs CFA). But Ferrostaal GmbH evaluate it at 1.5 billion dollars (about 760 billion francs CFA ). The fertilizer plant will be driven by natural gas. On May 17, 2013, Cameroon through SNH said it had discovered fields of over 1.050 billion cubic feet of gas, and the plant is expected to consume most of it.

Before now, on October 13, 2011 NHC signed an agreement with Ferrostaal authorizing the company to do a nine-month-long feasibility studies for the project, a joined statement from SNH and Ferrostaal said.

Production from the agrochemical plant is projected at 600,000 metric tons of ammonia and 700,000 metric tons of urea intended for local consumption and exports within the Central African sub region.

Fertilizer demand from cocoa, coffee and other cash and food crop producers in Cameroon and the sub region remains high.

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cameroon imported over 148,735 tons of fertilizer in 2010, although annual demand stands at 450,000 tons.