MIGA : Edith Quintrell Identifies New Areas Of Interest

By Victorine BIY, Cameroon Tribune
The Director of Operations Group of MIGA, an arm of the World Bank has rounded off her stay in Cameroon.

Cameroon is a vast construction site, a situation that pulls foreign investors. Be it in the energy, electricity, transport and mining sectors, foreign investors continue to stream in, demonstrating a show of interest and waiting to exhibit their know-how, in the quest to grasps some of the projects. But for each project, there is the risk factor and such investors will not want

to venture into areas where they cannot maximize profits.

It is within this background that the Director of Operations Group of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, MIGA, an arm of the World Bank Group, Edith P. Quintrell, has just rounded off a three-day visit to Cameroon during which she assessed the country’s risk factors like insurgency in the Far North of Cameroon orchestrated by the Nigerian-based terrorist sect, the Boko Haram. She said notwithstanding the threats, Cameroon remains a stable country full of potential and investment-friendly. She identified the energy, agriculture, hydroelectricity, gas and transport (road projects) sectors as potential areas of intervention.

Speaking to the press at the World Bank office in Bastos Yaounde on February 20, 2015, Quintrell noted that Cameroon is a good risk and MIGA was ready to remain an instrument for the country’s sustainable development through active participation with the public and private sectors. After meeting with government officials, the World Bank scribe revealed her determination to mobilize capital for important projects, including those in the infrastructure, energy, and other job-creating sectors as well as see with investors that the volume of foreign investment in the country is increased.

In 2014, MIGA supported investments in three projects in the country that will contribute to the power sector’s stability, continuity, and recovery to the tune of over 278 million US Dollars (about FCFA155.6 billion). She said the investments were in the national electric utility and two existing power generation projects that will help meet the growing demand, enhance the distribution network, extend services to unserved areas and improve the overall efficiency and operation of the sector. She also told the press that MIGA was currently supporting a telecommunications project in the country. Other inputs on MIGA’s intervention in Cameroon came from the World Bank’s Country Director, Gregor Binket.