Construction of National Statistics Institute building starts

The Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Planning, Emmanuel Nganou Djoumessi, has laid the first stone to for the construction of the National Statistics Institute building on July 21 in Yaoundé.

The solemn ceremony took place in the presence of a large delegation of members of government.

Evoking the importance of statistics, the general manager of the LSI, Joseph Tedou, expressed his satisfaction at the ceremony while adding that the building project is a sign of the crucial role the institute plays in the management of our country's development policies.

He stated particularly, the availability of data and statistical indicators for igniting public policy choices, monitoring and evaluation of their implementation and the extent of its impact on targets such as businesses and populations. Given these effects, a number of measures have been taken to strengthen the management of Statistics in Cameroon.

According to the DG, the recruitment of statistician officials, the creation of the institute in 2001 and especially budgetary resources mobilized to achieve the institution's objectives are one of the many developments of the institute. Between 2006 to 2015, the funds of the operating budget increased from 205 million to over a billion FCfa.

"It was a relative value increased by 340%. Over the same period, the fund of the public investment budget financing statistical operations increased by nearly 900%. That is from 300 million francs in 2006 to nearly 3 billion francs in 2015,” revealed Joseph Tedou.

From 2012 to 2015 it was noted that there were payments of appropriation registrations amounting to 4 billion FCfa to launch the construction of the new headquarters building. Other funds mobilized by the government with technical and financial partners have borne the overall sum for the construction of the building to nearly 10 billion F.

It is a futuristic building a 10-storey; two basements, a ground floor and seven top floors, plus a terrace. The total area of the plot that houses the project is 4000 m2 with a trail of approximately 1070m2. The capacity will take about 1200 people. The construction period will last 36 months. The construction which was supposed to start in the beginning of July 2014 would have been completed in June 2017.