Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon
The Cameroon University Housing Corporation, UHC have begun work at the sites in the campus of the University of Buea, UB, earmarked for the construction of the 2,500 bed hostels. After the October 15 2013 take off of the site preparation, a delegation of UHC and UB officials descended once more to the Lot 1, which is a five hectare piece of land and Lot 2, a seven and a half hectare piece of land, Monday, November 4 2013 to assess the level of work done so far.
Dr. Donald Achidi, GM of UHC(backing), tells the sub contractors his expectations
According to Dr. Donald Achidi Ngundam, the General Manager of UHC, the moving of earth, clearing of the bushes and delimitation of the boundaries of the work sites by the construction of a wooden fence on the 12.5 hectares of land will last for six weeks. “We have taken off and our contract with UB gives us 12 months to complete the work. We are targeting the 12 months. We hope to deliver the keys of the hostel to UB on December 31 2014,” he said.
Caterpillars clearing the bushes and moving the earth at the construction site
Though the official contract between UHC and UB were signed on November 15 2012, Achidi mentioned that after the laying of the foundation stone, they went out sourcing for the necessary financing and technical partners from credible institutions, citing the China Jiangsu International Economic Technical Corporation, CJI with headquarter in Nanjing, China and the China Exim Bank. “Our discussions with the Chinese are at an advanced stage. We are certain that they will come on board. We are talking about China Exim Bank, a financial institution that is not new to Cameroonians. This is a powerful financial institution. They know Cameroon and we know them. There are some conditions the bank has put in place. Once they are met, beginning with the approval from the government of Cameroon that we already have, things are expected to move very fast in the months ahead,” The UHC boss added.
An upbeat Achidi reassured the UB community and the public that they are set to deliver the social housing support to the students of UB. “UB is smiling towards us because they know we will deliver. We have signed the contract, done the laying of the foundation stone and now we are on the ground for the site preparation. We will deliver on December 31 2014,” he promised.
The UHC executive did not only express glee that the government of Cameroon has authorised the FCFA 12.5 Billion Investment Cost for the project, but has entreated the management of the National Housing Fund Corporation, fondly called Credit Foncier to support UHC in the construction effort. “In the Investment Cost, we have the Construction Cost worth FCFA 10.7 Billion. UHC is expected to make available ten percent of the construction budget while the rest of the financing will be done by the government of Cameroon,” he noted.
UB’s Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Research, Cooperation and relations with the Business World, Prof. Victor Julius Ngoh said the 2,500-bed hostel project is dear to the UB administration, the Ministries of Higher Education and Economy respectively, the Prime Ministry and the Presidency of the Republic. He will add that the land is available, the legal documents have been obtained and so the government of Cameroon is set to provide affordable lodging to UB students and those in other state universities via the Public Private Partnership scheme, PPP.
Done with the pilot phase of the Public Private Partnership scheme in UB, UHC is expected to embark on an eleven-year plan to do same in other state universities across Cameroon.
