America Low-cost Houses Soon in Cameroon!

A pilot project to this effect will soon start along the Mfoundi river bed in Yaounde.

The government of Cameroon has again taken a bold step to provide quality low-cost houses to its citizens at affordable prices. This time around, an American technology is on the way. The government, through the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, is taking necessary measures to begin a pilot project for the construction of four sample houses along the Mfoundi river bed using a fast American housing technology; Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs). It is said that once the technology is adapted and appreciated by Cameroonians, SIPs production factory will be implanted in the country.

The Director General of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development at the Ministry of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Janvier Oum Eloma says government embarked on the SIPs technology in 2011 after several missions were undertaken to the United States by personnel from the Ministries of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Urban Development and Housing, the Cameroon Real Estate Corporation (SIC) and the Local Material Promotion Authority (Mipromalo), during which the building technology was analysed and appreciated. Janvier Eloma explains that the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development is doing everything possible to make sure that in the shortest possible time construction of four sample apartments, over 2,500 square metres land along the Mfoundi river around the Mvog-Atangana Mballa neighborhood in Yaounde begins. Janvier Eloma notes that upon completion, the houses will be State property. "The cost of renting such homes as well as who would be eligible to live in them, will be communicated when the time comes", Janvier Eloma added.

Managing Partners, Larry Tansinda and Ivo Tasong, of Global Business Consultancy International Group (GBCINT), owners of the company charged with bringing the SIPs technology into Cameroon say the materials that will be used in constructing the sample houses arrived Cameroon in November 2011 and when the dispute over the piece of land that will be used is settled, construction will begin to be completed in four months. They explain that SIPs is an innovative way to build houses using fabricated Steel tubes for structural strength while using Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) for insulation.