Committee endorses industrialisation master plan proposal

Members of the inter-ministerial committee in charge of drawing up the Industrialisation Master Plan met in Yaounde on April 13, 2016.

The inter-ministerial committee in charge of drawing up Cameroon’s Industrialisation Master Plan has endorsed a proposal from the Basics International consulting firm on the current state of the sector. Both parties met in an evaluation meeting in Yaounde on April 13, 2016, under the chair of the Minister of Mines, Industries and Technological Development, Ernest Gwaboubou.

The meeting aimed at adopting the document by the consulting firm on Cameroon’s potential, stakes as well as challenges that will be used to draw up a new Industrialisation Master Plan as desired by government since 2013. The plan, when ready, will serve as springborad to the implementation of Cameroon’s development vision in the sector. The proposed document from the consulting firm will guide the committee to draw up the Industrialisation Master Plan.

The Minister acknowledged that Cameroon’s potential in the sector was remarkable, though not fully exploited due to the uncompetitiveness of local companies. “Our economy hinges on small-size entreprises most of which are of the tertiary sector. Medium-size entreprises that are expected to throw their weight behind the economy find it difficult because of numerous setbacks,” the Minister said. Government is therefore reveiwing its national master plan on industrialisation to step up local processing of agricultural, mining and forestry products, which according to Basics International’s Chief Executive Officer, Céléstin Ndonga,are unexploited.

Efforts are ongoing to process at least 15 per cent of minerals mined in Cameroon and officials see in the Industrialisation Master Plan a leeway to boosting the sector. The firm’s findings disclosed that Cameroon is endowed with enormous natural resources whose insufficient processing, owing to multifaceted reasons, has kept the country, like the continent, dependent on imports or exports of mainly primary products like crude oil, cocoa, coffee, wood and banana, amongst others. The country boasts vast reserves of natural resources in mining, 35 million metric tons of iron ore, many cobalt/nickel reserves and huge potentials in the forestry and agricultural sectors.

However, Minister Gwaboubou stated that being competitive means local companies need to produce in quantity and quality as proposed by Basics International in the plan. Experts outlined impediments to the industrialisation drive like obsolete infrastructure (internet, posts and telecommunications), fragmented economic space, climate change, capital flight, immigration, low production capacities, limited investment financing and high transaction costs. The Minister stressed that the plan absolutely needs to address setbacks for the country to achieve its development dreams.