Sir, do we have a better visibility of the Phase II construction works of the Port of Kribi?

It is sure that works will resume in the weeks to come. It must be said that some groundwork started in November 2017 and was interrupted in November 2018. There were prerequisites to be filled to firmly complete the financing and the performance contract. They were linked to finetuning reimbursement mechanisms, the full payment of the initial advance and many other preceding requirements. The last issues pertaining to the above-mentioned issues have been resolved last December with a strong involvement of PAK’s Top Management. In this vein, works should therefore gradually resume in the coming says, with an expected acceleration in mid-February 2020.

Why February and not now?

For a very simple reason: this is a new year in China. So, planning a major resumption of work by Chinese at that time is an illusion. Nevertheless, we have started technical consultations in order to take stock of the investigations, engineering studies and work carried out to date.

On a practical level, what are the works to be carried out during Phase II?

Without being exhaustive and in a generic manner, these include, among others to:

• Extend the quay wall by 715 m;
• Extend the breakwater by around 675 m;
• Develop the port roadway covering a total area of about 37 hectares;
• Develop a container storage area of approximately 19 hectares;
• Manufacture, supply and set up equipment including 5 quay cranes (STS); 15 pneumatic gantry cranes (RTG); 3 loaders for empty containers; 25 tractors (120kN);
• Construct operations and service buildings.

What has been done so far?

Mainly preparatory work has been done, including dredging of manoeuvring, navigational and spoil areas; basic engineering with all the geotechnical investigations at sea, on land, topography; geophysics; etc. In short, it involved carrying out preparatory work which, to date, represents about 10% of the overall progress of Phase II work. It should be pointed out that in order to ensure the best possible quality assurance and quality control of Phase II, PAK is assisted by consultants: A Mission of control and technical supervision performed by the Group of technical design offices STUDI INTERNATIONAL / INROS LACKNER / STUDI CAMEROON; a Mission of Assistance to the Contracting Authority performed by the Group of technical design offices LOUIS BERGER/BEC LA ROUTIERE and the involvement of LABOGENIE as Geotechnical Assistance to the Contracting Authority (AGMO) is considered.

What about the deadline for completion?

As per the contract, the deadline was 42 months. Based on the work that has already been done, there is an optimisation that needs to be done with the company. Nevertheless, it will take between 30 and 36 months for provisional acceptance of the said work, i.e. three years. For the record, Phase II costs about $794 million, or nearly CFAF 400 billion.