Water & Energy: Data Available For Decision-making

By Victorine BIY, Cameroon Tribune

A statistical yearbook from 2005 to 2013 was officially published in Yaounde on January 15, 2015.

The water and energy sectors are doing fairly well in Cameroon, with the Minister of Water Resources and Energy, Basile Atangana Kouna, expressing hope that access to potable water will rise from 70 to 75 per cent between 2015 and 2020. In his preface to the statistical yearbook of water

and energy presented on January 15, 2015 in Yaounde, Atangana Kouna strongly holds that energy consumption rate per unit in terms of Gross Domestic Product will attain 37 per cent, while production will be increased to 3,000 megawatts by 2020.

The maiden edition of the statistical yearbook of the water and energy sectors is a production of the Ministry of Water Resources and Energy, with the technical support of the National Institute of Statistics and the financial assistance of the European Union, through the Public Finance Reform Programme. About 70 per cent of the 142 indicators initially defined were taken into account.

Data was collected from 100 structures, especially ministries, public and semi-public corporations, enterprises and national and international organizations. Some structures lacked data services, making the exercise pretty difficult, sources said. The Special Adviser N° 1 in the Ministry of Water Resources and Energy, Laurent Ngouiga, said the publication was intended to provide data for better visibility as well as support decision-making in the said sectors. He represented Basile Atangana Kouna at the book presentation.

Energy

In the energy sub-sector, the report indicates that Cameroon has a high exploitable hydroelectric potential of 19, 7 cubic gigawatts (GW3) of which 3.72 per cent is currently used. Electricity production has witnessed a steady growth from 2006 to 2013, despite slight drops in 2009 and 2012. However, the commissioning of Emergency Thermal Power Plants in 2012 and the Kribi Gas-fired Plant in 2013, helped increase generation by 9.15 per cent in 2013. In addition, losses due to transmission and distribution have ceased to increase from 2006 up to 2013.

Water

Cameroon, according to the logbook, has high potential, both on the hydro plane (first in the CEMAC zone) and on the human level (nearly 50 per cent of inhabitants in the CEMAC zone). The country remains the least dependent on oil revenues. Economically, Cameroon in 2013 obtained a real Gross Domestic Product growth rate of 4.9 per cent, preceded by Gabon (5.0 per cent).