AfCON 2019:Turkish, Italian companies win biggest contracts

On June 27, 2016, Turkish company Yenigün Construction Industry should set up on the construction site of the future Omnisports stadium of Douala-Japoma, in the suburb of the economic capital of the country, we learned at the end of a mission sent by the government to Douala at the end of the previous week.

Indeed, it was this company that the State of Cameroon chose for the construction of a stadium of 50,000 seats in Douala, as part of the AfCON tournament that the country will organise in 2019.

The costs for the works of this sports infrastructure are estimated at FCFA 166 billion, to be financed by Eximbank Turquie.

The Japoma stadium will also have two training pitches with bleachers, an open gymnasium of 2,000 seats, an Olympic swimming pool of 8 lanes and 1,000 seats, etc.

Construction of the Douala-Japoma stadium is the second major contract, since the beginning of the year 2016, to elude the Chinese, the country whose companies are actually carrying out the quasi-totality of the big ongoing projects in Cameroon.

Indeed, before the above-mentioned stadium, the Cameroonian government revealed, in March 2016, having chosen the Italian company Piccini, to build a 60,000 seats stadium in Olembé, in the suburbs of the capital, also for AfCON 2019. Contract amount : FCFA 163 billion.

With these two contracts, the aforementioned Turkish and Italian companies are the big winners of the market for infrastructure for AfCON to be held in Cameroon in February 2019.

Pending are rehabilitation contracts of Garoua and Douala stadiums. Sodevi International, a Canadian consortium, has already expressed its interest in this last project.

At the same time, Cameroon has already received offers of services from Brazilian and Algerian companies, who are mainly eyeing the market of mass transportation for this football competition.