China loans 48 million USD to Cameroon for an electricity generating station

11 January 2010

The Chinese government has recently agreed a loan of 48.3 million Dollars to finance the hydroelectric plant at Mekin in the south of the country.

Louis Paul Motaze, Minister of the Economy, stated at the signing of the loan agreement this weekend that the infrastructure will include a dam with a water retention capacity of 940 million cubic metres.

To this will be added a hydroelectric power plant with an installed power of 12 megawatts, as well as a high-voltage line of 63 kilowatts over a distance of 40 kilometres.

During the signing of the loan agreement, the Chinese representative Hunag Changping was very enthusiastic about the construction of the plant, since Cameroon “suffers from a major deficit in the development of energy, which is proving a real obstacle in the overall promotion of the country’s economy”, he stated, quoted by the Messenger.

The power station is a first step towards a better supply of electricity in Cameroon, with the government’s objective being to increase energy production from the present 974 MW to 3000 MW between now and 2020.<br/>