Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon
Members of the Rumpi Area Participatory Development Project Steering Committee are unanimous that there is need for a Rumpi Phase II. At the 14th Steering Committee meeting of the Rumpi Project, which took place Thursday, October 31 2013 at the conference room of the Buea Mountain Hotel, members proffered arguments why it will be necessary to source for funding for a Rumpi Phase II Project.
Rumpi Project steering committee members at the 14th session in Mountain Hotel, Buea
Chair of the Rumpi Steering Committee meeting and Governor of the Southwest Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai said the benefits of Rumpi Phase I are glaring in the Region and that it will be disastrous if the Phase II is not vigorously pursued and funded. “The benefits of phase I are there for all to see and the potential sponsors across the Southwest Region. Such an important project cannot be stopped at a time when the population is hungry for more developmental issues. We are appealing to the government to continue
Bernard Okalia Bilai, Rumpi Project Steering Committee Chair at the 14th session
to give their support to this project, particularly the Phase II. It will be unpalatable to the population if the Rumpi Phase II is not granted,” he explained.
According to Okalia Bilai, the Rumpi Project Steering Committee members have taken a commitment to tell the government why the Phase II must come and the necessity to source for the funding. “This project is to sustainably fight poverty and to benefit the poor rural masses by providing them with an
opportunity to establish a sustainable livelihood through better income for their households,” he mentioned.
Rumpi Project Coordinator, Besong Ogork(L) sharing views with a steering committee member
He enjoined the supervisory body, Southwest Development Authority, SOWEDA, the Project Implementation Team to ensure that the remaining activities of Phase I are effectively executed and the second phase of the project is approved and started in 2014. He will add that the Rumpi Project remains a useful instrument for the government to fight against poverty in the Southwest Region. “As Governor of the Region, I will endeavour that the government and her development
Dr. Andrew Eneme Ngome, GM SOWEDA at the Rumpi Project steering committee meeting
partners, especially the ADB, build on the achievements and lessons learnt from this project and pave the way for the second phase to start as soon as possible,” he requested.
Okalia Bilai mooted that the new project design will have as focus, agricultural development, considering the on-going and future construction of major highways in the Southwest Region.
The Rumpi Project Coordinator and
Rumpi Project Steering Committee members in a family picture
Secretary of the Steering Committee meeting, Besong Ntui Ogork, corroborated the Southwest Regional Governor. “It will be an ambitious project of a total cost of FCFA 30 Billion, with four components like the one that is ebbing out. Focus will be on agricultural infrastructure with about 60 percent of the budget geared for that component, representing about FCFA 18 Billion.”
Ogork said they will be looking at the provision of technical support to the farmers, the agricultural production and value chain component, which will gulp about FCFA 6 Billion and capacity building and project management will take the sum of FCFA 3 Billion each. “The cards have changed, with us laying more emphasis on agricultural infrastructure, production and value chain,” he said.
He mentioned that second generation agriculture entail adding value to what has been initially produced, while ensuring that your produce are marketable. “With the major road corridors in the Southwest Region currently undergoing construction and more to be constructed, we are following in that direction to take development to the hinterlands in the Region and hope that the Project will ensure evacuation of what people produce into our main markets,” he added.
Ogork said the First Phase of the Rumpi Project attained its objectives by improving the per capital income of the people of the Southwest Region vis-a-vis other Regions in the country.
Earlier, the General Manager of the Southwest Development Authority, SOWEDA, Dr. Andrew Eneme Ngome wished that the Reunification celebrations due in the Southwest Region and Buea as the host should come along with new projects, especially the Rumpi Phase II that the population of the Region is looking forward to.
The steering committee members also adopted the proposed Pre-project document of Rumpi Phase II and an income and expenditure of FCFA 2,355,990,000 as an anticipated budget to start the work plan and second phase in 2014.
