Mipromalo advocates for use of local resources in construction

A conference was organized for this purpose within the framework of the "Month of research in Minresi" in Yaounde.

"We have cement, bauxite, aluminium in Cameroon. Why do we import?"

This interrogation was brought forward by the director of the Mission for the promotion of local materials (Mipromalo), Pr Uphie Chinje Melo, during a conference Wednesday in Yaounde on the circular relating to the use of local materials in the construction of the public buildings.

Indeed, in 2007, year of its signature, the aforementioned text made the report on what the utilisation ratio of local materials in the construction of buildings in Cameroon was.

In spite of the abundance and availability of raw materials, existence of qualified labour and presence of several operators on the ground, today, the situation seems not to have developed, at the point where the aforementioned circular was the topic of the conference organized within the framework of the "Month of research" at the ministry for scientific Research and the Innovation (Minresi) in the presence of the secretary-general of Minresi, Rebecca Ebelle.

For Pr Uphie Chinje Melo, the advantage of using local building materials lies in the fact "found initially in the richness of our basement. One saves cost "And to specify:"the young people with unemployment will be able to constitute the labour, to produce these materials and to generate incomes."

However, the weak use of these materials, "has as consequences, inter alia, a chronic deficit in our trade balance compared to building materials, with its corollary who is to maintain the dependence of our country with respect to outside."

This weak use is ascribable, according to Pr Uphie Chinje Melo, to the lack of information and with the prejudices "the local material is less expensive. For the construction of two classrooms for example, all inclusive of tax amounts to 12 million and half and not 16 million F as the State is investing".

Moreover, according to the director of Mipromalo, the standards exist for each material and are respected.