2019 AFCON in Garoua:

Prime Potomac Confident About Project Deadlines

Prime Potomac technical director talking to journalists in Garoua

The company tasked with the construction of some of the sites to host the 2019 African Nations Cup in Garoua, in the North Region, has assured that it will respect the deadlines given by CAF for the completion and delivery of the sites.

            Authorities of Prime Potomac Cameroon SA, a subsidiary of Prime Potomac Global USA, told pressmen in Garoua last week that works on the various sites are progressing according to plan and all the structures would be delivered in due time.         

           

Officials of Prime Potomac answering questions from the press

Engineers of Prime Potomac were responding to questions from sports reporters who travelled to Garoua to visit the construction sites and get first hand appraisal of what was going on.

            The journalists embarked on the Garoua trip following alarming reports on radio and in newspapers about a halt of works on the sites due to repeated workers strikes caused by non-payment of wages and poor treatment by authorities of Prime Potomac.

            “As you must have seen with your own eyes, work is going on normally and in serenity in all our project sites. It is true that we had some challenges before. But after acquiring the requisite machines and after solving some financial constraints, i can assure you that all is well with our work and we are sure to deliver on time,” said the Regional Coordinator of Prime Potomac for North Cameroon, Tuna Boniface.

           

Prime Potomac construction sites in Garoua are very busy

The visit took the journalists to all the hosting sites under construction by Prime Potomac SA including four training stadiums at Poumpoumré, CENAJES, Coton Sports Complex and Reyre, as well as the construction site for a 108-rooms four-star hotel and construction-rehabilitation works on the Hotel La Benoué. The Benoue hotel that was initially three-stars will be up-graded to four-stars. It will also be extended to have more rooms.

            “We have finished with the big tasks in all our sites. We are now entering the finishing phases of the works. So we have no fears we will deliver all the jobs on time,” said the technical director of Prime Potomac, Mr. Tsinda, who also explained that the bottlenecks and difficulties they encountered at the beginning have all been handled and all is moving well with their work.

            Tsinda was virtually re-echoing the chiefs of project of the various stadia and hotel sites visited, all of whom also said they are through with the difficult part of their work and were now concentrating on finishing stages.

            “We have finished with the big jobs which entailed the terracing of the playgrounds, provision of drainages and construction of the VIP stands. We have now engaged the finishing touches,” said Gnabo Kada Basile, chief of works at the 105 seats Gendarmerie (Reyre) stadium, who noted that over 80% of the work has been done.     

            It was idem for the chiefs of works at the two hotel sites who also assured that their work was progressing according to plan especially after the acquisition of machines which now enable them to produce over 200m3 of bricks and concrete per day.

            It should be noted that Prime Potomac had a workforce of about 4700 workers at the start of their projects in Garoua, but the number has been cut down to barely over 1000 following the acquisition of machines. Officials say the workforce will drop even more before long.

            For his part, the CEO of Prime Potomac, Ben Modo, underscored the company’s innovative approach, saying their reasonable costing, respect for environment and the adoption of the Lean Construction techniques only makes things easy for them.