Public Works Budgeting - Experts Upgrade Knowledge in Yaounde

Experts in public works in the country have begun sharpening their skills on reviewing and determining the cost of public works infrastructure. A five-day (May 28-June1) capacity building workshop went underway at the Yaounde Advanced School of Public Works yesterday May 28.

Chaired by the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Public Works, Hans Nyetam Nyetam, the workshop brings together experts from the internal and external services of the ministry to listen to lectures from eminent facilitators comprising experts from the Yaounde Advanced School of Public Works as well as from the newly-created Ministry of Public Contracts.

Addressing the participants at the opening ceremony, Mr Nyetam Nyetam said the country in its growth vision within the Head of State's Greater Achievements programme which seeks to make Cameroon an emerging economy by 2035, had envisaged a wide-range of reforms to ensure sustainable development. Within this programme, he said, growth-producing projects have been earmarked for execution in several sectors.

"If efforts are intensifying on mobilising resources to execute these projects, it is necessary to put the resources into effective in all transparency. Mastering the cost of public works infrastructure is primordial," he said. Managing public works projects like roads, the Secretary of State added, has come under serious criticism and mastering their cost as well as ensuring their efficient execution fall squarely within the mission of the ministry.

Topics like "Determining the direct and indirect cost of services and public works infrastructure, "Legal provisions in place," "Recent evolutions in the organisation and management of public contracts in the country," among others, are under discussion.