Bamendankwe-Abumuchwi gets electricity after 74 yrs

More than 300 households in the Abumuchwi neighbourhood in Bamendankwe village in the Northwest Region now have electricity, 74 years after the neighbourhood was founded.

Congratulating the people of Abumuchwi for contributing to road maintenance and, now, energy, the Divisional Officer, DO, for Bamenda I, Georges Ndong Misse, lauded the private -public partnership that was applied on the project, saying it should grow from strength to strength.

“I am borrowing the example of this community to take to my own village, to bring my own people out of darkness, since my village does not have electricity,” the DO stated. He warned against what he termed the vandalisation of electrical cables.

Addressing the people of Abumuchwi on September 26, Mayor Caroline Bi Bongwa appreciated the community for realising the electricity project and promised her Council constant support for other developmental projects.

According to her, their votes in the 2013 Municipal Election were not in vain. “There are many things we can do together. So, you can always count on us. To assist you take this project further, the Council is making a modest contribution of FCFA 800,000.

The Council will always partner with the community for development projects,” the Mayor intimated. She appealed to the population to unite so that electricity should be extended to the rest of the neighbourhods.

On behalf of Abumuchwi I and II, Stephen Ndonue said the neighbourhood was founded in 1940 and it was in 2008 that the electricity project was conceived, with each household tasked FCFA 40,000 as contribution to the realisation of the project.

Since many households were unable to pay, he went on, AES linked up the community with CEMAC, which helped to extend the first line to the neighbourhood at the cost of FCFA 2.4 million.

The Abumuchwi Electricity Project Chairman, Grand Councillor Pius Tamajong Aziwo, thanked the Bamenda I Council for the support, which he said, will take the electricity extension to another level.

“We are grateful for what the Council has done and with our own efforts; most households in this community today have electricity,” he said. He announced the commencement of work on the 3rd phase of the project with the planting of 16 poles estimated at FCFA 890,000 out of the FCFA 2.8 million estimated cost.

He equally mentioned the water schemes and road projects linking the neighborhoods realised with money contributed by the communities. “I would remind the DO that when the Mile II Bridge Up station got bad, it was the Abumuchwi road that the entire Region was using to connect with the rest of the country,” he boasted.