Urban Development:Public-Private Partnership As Recourse

By Victorine NFOR, Cameroon Tribune
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is liaising with the Support Council for the Realization of Partnership Contracts.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Jean Claude Mbwentchou has restated that government cannot do everything alone. Governments that have its people at heart and long for meaningful development as well as economic growth through substantial job creation are bound to work closely with the private sector, which in most cases is expected to source for funding to

support life-changing initiatives. Government in response ushers in land, fiscal and customs facilities.

The government of Cameroon has since some years now understood the secret, with the putting in place of the Public-Private Partnership, PPP framework which went operational in 2009 as evidence. Since then, government through the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development and the Support Council for the Realization of Partnership Contracts, CARPA, have been working tooth and nail to have earmarked projects off the ground with focus on infrastructure, tourism, transport and energy.

It is for this sustainable development that the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, MINDHU, and CARPA have partnered to prompt some urban development projects. MINDHU boss, revealed at the opening of PPP information days on the theme; “Urban Development and Public-Private Partnership,” organized by CARPA in Yaounde on Monday, June 29, 2015 that commitment to clean up the cities of Douala and Yaounde, the construction of the Sawa Beach in Douala and the cleaning and development of the Yaounde Municipal Lake as well as that of the Mengoua Valley is only achievable with the support of the private sector through CARPA.

The Chairperson of CARPA, Ngeune Pauline Irène said Monday’s open day was occasion for stakeholders to examine other MINDHU projects that can easily attract the private sector. How do we get the private sector involved in the execution of the project to open up the eastern entrance of the city of Yaounde, which according to CARPA is overdue with feasibility studies already at hand?  This question and more were under review at the information day with stakeholders designing strategies to woo more private investors to contribute to the country’s growth drive.  In six years, it is not a plethora of projects already executed with the support of CARPA, but Ngeune Pauline Irène says the institution has 11 projects to its credit. “It’s not much, but on the right track,” she said, explaining that the structure, after its putting in place, had to work out its management team, recruit staff, get them trained and get rolling.