Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
5, December 2024
CPDM Crime Syndicate: Biya approves CFA49bn loan for electricity recovery 0
Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has authorized a loan of €74.25 million (around CFA49 billion) from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to support the country’s emergency electricity recovery plan. The decree, signed on December 3, grants Economy Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey the authority to secure the loan.
The funds will be used to implement the Support Program for the Recovery of the Electricity Sector in Cameroon (Parsec). This program aims to improve electricity production, distribution, and governance. The presidential approval follows the AfDB board’s green light for the loan on December 14, 2023, which will finance the first phase of Parsec.
Parsec is part of a series of ambitious reforms to address key challenges in Cameroon’s electricity sector. Between 2024 and 2025, the program will support the government’s efforts to implement these reforms. The long-term goal is to increase electricity production to 5,000 MW, which will meet domestic demand and allow Cameroon to export energy, especially to Chad.
The electricity sector in Cameroon faces significant problems, including low transmission and distribution efficiency, a lack of skilled workers, and inefficient payment collection systems. Parsec includes concrete actions to address these issues. These measures include reducing commercial electricity losses, improving payment collection, and introducing prepaid metering systems, particularly in public buildings. A public awareness campaign will also help educate citizens about the prepaid system and how it works.
The program focuses on workforce development by creating training opportunities to build skilled personnel throughout the electricity value chain, from production to distribution. These efforts aim to address technological, organizational, environmental, and financial challenges while improving governance.
The loan responds to a request submitted by the government of Cameroon to the AfDB in May 2023. It comes at a time when the sector is financially strained, with limited access to electricity and underperforming operators.
In February 2023, the government launched a Recovery Plan for the Electricity Sector to guide reforms and actions needed from 2023 to 2030. This plan, requiring CFA6,000 billion in investments, seeks to overcome obstacles in production, distribution, and governance to support the country’s energy ambitions.
Source: Business in Cameroon