MIPROMALO Nkolbisson brick factory opens up

Over 20,000 bricks are produced everyday with the objective of reaching every Cameroonian.

The Minister of Scientific Research and Innovation, Madeleine Tchuente, has expressed satisfaction at the output of the Nkolbisson-based brick production plant; one of the factories of the Local Material Promotion Authority, MIPROMALO; a public establishment placed under her Ministry.

The Minister paid a visit to the factory on July 14, 2016, as part of her tour of research institutions under her oversight. It also came at a time MIPROMALO was on an awareness campaign with Open Door-days organised to sensitise Cameroonians on latest innovations in local construction and decorative material.

The plant has a daily capacity of about 20,000 bricks. The Minister was taken around the production unit with the XDG boxy closing machine, auto firing machine, a crusher, mixer, extruder, vertical bar adobe cutter and a horizontal bar producing bricks of varying dimensions; 40x20x12cm, 23,5x11,5x9cm, 20x9x9cm, 40x20x20cm.

Dimensions differ with those used for walls (independently without holes) and some still for walls (cement block-like size). Smaller bricks, thinner in forms of tiles for decoration, are also produced at the plant.

“In 2015, over 1,050 persons purchased local material for different construction projects,” the General Manager of MIPROMALO, Uphie Chinje Melo, told Cameroon Tribune. She stated that customers come from all over, with some from the northern part of the country. “It shows the interest Cameroonians have in local material. It is a task for us and government to get closer to the population,” she said.

The Prime Ministerial circular of March 12, 2007, on the use of local material for government projects has yielded little fruits, MIPROMALO officials say, pointing out that; “So long as the State has not ensured that the material are used in their projects, it will be difficult for Cameroonians to follow.”

The challenge is therefore the market with Uphie Chinje Melo argues that; “The market pulls investors.” The technology is not meant for small-scale production. MIPROMALO is working on a project in Douala in the Littoral Region with production estimated at 300 tonnes of bricks per day, it was disclosed.

Compressed earth blocks, fired clay bricks, dimension stones, Granite concrete floor tiles, refractory bricks, pottery and fine ceramics and wood drying using solar energy are products of MIPROMALO. The wish is to one day see that bricks make Cameroon beautiful.