Plan To Rebuild & Develop NW & SW Regions:

About 90bn Needed To Repair CDC & Pamol  
- Workers and management of the two agro-industries in the SW have greeted government’s announcement of a plan for reconstruction  and development of NW and SW regions, following over three years of a ravaging armed conflict.
By Ayukogem Steven Ojong in Yaounde

 CDC GM, Franklin Ngoni Njie 

The General Managers of the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC and Pamol Plantations PLc have jumped for joy following the announcement by government of a plan to reconstruct and develop the NW and SW regions that have suffered untold destruction due to the continuing armed conflict in the two regions.
   
    The rehabilitation of CDC and Pamol is a recommendation of the Grand National Dialogue, GND that was convened by President Paul Biya in October-November 2019, to seek lasting solutions to the Anglophone question.
    Managers of the agro-industries told CRTV that they had since gone to work soon after the Grand Dialogue, and they have done an evaluation of the damage and destruction suffered by their respective plantation estates and factories.
    “All our plantations have suffered huge losses due to the conflict. It would require something like 8.8 billion fcfa to rehabilitate the plantations so that they can start producing again,” said Chief Charles Mekanya Okon, GM of Pamol.
    As for the much bigger company, the CDC, that counts a workforce of over 22.000 persons, its GM, Franklin Ngoni Njie, says the losses incurred due damage of the company’s infrastructures and equipment, especially the palm oil mill at Iloani, can be valued at over 6 billion fcfa. Njie said further that if the losses due to destruction of the plantations are factored the cost of rehabilitation can be estimated at about Fcfa 68 billion.
    Both GMs used the opportunity of the chat with CRTV’s reporters to acknowledge the support they have so far received from the government. They said thanks to the financial assistance from government, they were able to continue operations in some areas, even though at a very minimal level.
    “Thanks to support from the government and protection from the military and some vigilante groups, we were able to keep some of our production units functioning. So far we have been able to produce over 1000 tons of palm oil at our oil mill in Ndian. But the challenge we now face is how to evacuate the oil from Ndian to the Douala port for shipment,” regretted the Pamol GM.
    For his part, the GM of CDC, also acknowledged receiving some bailout support from the government.

 
    With these palpable achievements with so little financial resources, the GM of CDC, and his counterpart of Pamol, have both expressed the hope that the reconstruction plan proposed by government should go operational soon, so that life can return to normalcy in the plantations and estates.
    The GMs also hailed President Biya for giving priority to their companies in his plan.

Pamol GM, Chief Mekanya

  “Thanks to financial support from the government we were able to continue with some production activities. Work has been going on in some palm oil, rubber and banana estates. So far we have been able to plant some four hundred hectares of Banana, which hopefully should be ready for packaging and shipment in the next three to four months,” Ngoni Njie revealed.

Speaking to CRTV Thursday, the Franklin Ngoni Njie and Chief Mekanya respectively, said the announced plan for reconstruction and development of the NW and SW has rekindled hope among the workers of their two companies. They said the workers are anxious to resume work after the plantations suspended operations due to the ghastly activities of armed separatist fighters.