Of the 390 projects earmarked for the development of the South West Region in 2013, only 80 have been awarded or tackled for execution giving a relative implementation rate of 9.25 per cent. All projects are estimated at FCFA 4.65 billion.
The situation was seen as alarming by the Regional Follow-Up Committee on the Execution of the Public Investment Budget that sat last 7 August, 2013, in Buea for its second quarterly session.
Opening deliberations on behalf of the Governor, Bikie Befolo Alain Serge, Head of the Administrative and Juridical Affairs Division, remarked that the paddling needed acceleration especially as it was already mid-year past with very little seen on the field. The causes of project accomplishment delays were later diagnosed as Honourable Samuel Bokwe, the Committee Chair, conducted discussions. Such included "delays in the award of contracts, the amateurism in MINMAP processes, corruption, administrative bottlenecks, projects attributed without credit cards, the cumbersome dual role of MINMAP and ARMP, and the non-mastery of the terrain by many contractors."
To face the situation, the Committee set up an emergency commission of five persons to meet the Regional Governor with a list of problematic projects latest 16 August. Otherwise, members of the Committee were enlightened by Issa Felix, new South West Regional Delegate of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), on the number of projects with corresponding costs in each of the six Administrative Divisions of the area. Statistics presented by the MINEPAT Delegate show that among the projects intended for the area, only 148 have been tabled at MINMAP for award of contracts. Some 117 of them have been effectively received, 80 contracts awarded, and 30 are still awaited. The Committee equally harped on the need to notify contractors on the field about the urgency required of them. But many of the contractors with building projects have complained of heavy rains this season and promised to be quick when the rains subside.
