This was a historic day, according to Emmanuel SABIKANDA, Mayor of Kribi and a memorable according to Xu Hua JIANG, Managing Director of China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC). The date of 30 December 2020 marks the signing of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) contract for the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of the Kribi-Lolabé highway, the main service to the deep-sea port. The PPP contract signing ceremony took place in Eboundja near Kribi, on a stretch of this 38.5 km-long road infrastructure, 89% of which has already been completed.

This was an opportunity for Emmanuel NGANOU DJOUMESSI, Minister of Public Works (MINTP) and project owner, to announce the end of the development work within the next six months, followed by the opening of the highway to traffic in October 2021, in accordance with the works schedule.

This is good news for the Port Authority of Kribi (PAK), the main beneficiary of this service infrastructure, which is essential for better exploitation of the deep-sea Port. It is equally good news for the people of Kribi, the traditional, municipal and administrative authorities of the Ocean Department and of the South in general, who have flocked to Eboundja in large numbers to experience history live.

CHEC has thus used all the tricks of the big days to receive the various delegations, including members of the government who came from Yaoundé to formalise this Public-Private Partnership. Leading the way were Emmanuel NGANOU DJOUMESSI, MINTP and Project Manager; Louis Paul MOTAZE, Minister of Finance (MINFI), also President of the Kribi Industrial Port Complex (CIPK) steering project and Jules Doret NDONGO, Minister of Forestry and Fauna (MINFOF), an elite of the Ocean Division. With them were the Governor of the South, the Senior divisional Officer of the Ocean division, the Mayor of Kribi and many others.

Whether it was the Mayor, in his welcome address or the MINTP in his special speech, it was stressed that the Kribi-Lobalé highway is not a white elephant, but a Major Achievement that is physical, visible and tangible. Except that the works launched since 2015 are still underway, and the local port authority and the city of Kribi are getting impatient.…

While justifying the delay, especially the difficulty in securing financing, which caused the project to change from the initial design-build contract to a PPP contract, the government is determined and more reassuring: Kribi-Lolabé will be completed in 2021 at the same time as Phase 2 Edéa-Kribi is taking shape.