Local firm weeps as Gov’t, UK company sign HEP deal

A Cameroonian local firm, Berthel Industrievertretung, Inc. Ltd, BILL, has chided a UK company, Joule Africa, a Jewish entity, Tandyl and officials of the Ministry of Water Resources and Energy, MINEE, for conniving and snatching away a project they conceived to develop a 607MW Kpep Hydroelectric Power, HEP, over River Katsina Ala in Furu Awa Subdivision, Menchum Division of the Northwest Region.

This information is contained in a complaint written recently and circulated by the promoters of BILL.

According to the document, which The Post procured a copy, BILL claim that the government of Cameroon granted them an exclusive right to develop the 607MW Kpep HEP on the Katsina Ala basin after validating their 2009 inception report.

“BILL had been harnessing plans to undertake the entire Katsina Ala cascade hydropower potential…into an investment opportunity since 2005, and had retained Lahmeyer International, LI, GmbH as owner’s engineer,” the document notes.

BILL narrated that in 2011, they brought in Joule Africa as development partner in the project with the responsibility of sourcing funds for feasibility studies and implementation of the project within an agreed timeframe.

They noted that from 2011 to 2016, Joule Africa was unable to raise the expected US 12 million dollars (approximately FCFA 6 billion) for feasibility studies.
They claim that by that act of failure, Joule Africa compromised its position as partner to BILL on project financing.

“Once lack of financial capability was established, Joule Africa on February 16, 2016, pulled out of the project and on March 19, 2016, closed its offices it shared with BILL. On March 18, 2016, the Minister of Water Resources and Energy signed a secret Project Development Agreement, PDA, with Joule Africa and Tandyl…” the BILL complaint reveals.

BILL described the signing of the PDA in the presence of the British High Commissioner to Cameroon as well as officials of Tandyl as fraudulent. In a revelation, BILL stated that as “per prefeasibility studies, soil samples indicate heavy presence of gold in the basin’s subsoil and this is what would pushed the UK High Commissioner and Tandyl to lure the current Minister of Energy to be highly interested in switching control from a local company to foreign companies,” Bill claims.

According to the complainants, the presence of the UK High Commissioner at the signing ceremony was a demonstration of his “direct involvement in supporting the expropriation of the Kpep hydropower project…development from a local company without any due compensation as per industry practice worldwide demonstrates.”

According to BILL, that smacks of UK meddling and stifling local entrepreneurial spirit and businesses and UK’s support for corrupt business practices.

In reaction to the accusations, the British High Commissioner to Cameroon, H.E. Brain Olley in a statement, told The Post that “the UK has been at the forefront of efforts to improve the business climate in Cameroon through bilateral and multilateral engagements. This includes our support to the Business Coalition Against Corruption, which is run by the Business Council for Africa. Any queries relating to particular business contracts should be directed to the companies concerned,” the High Commissioner maintained.

Another critical source said by simply inviting the High Commissioner to such an event does not automatically mean that they were involved in the transactions that led to the signing of the business deal.

Bill in the complaint decried the fact that Joule Africa is now claiming that the Katsina Ala cascade development is their initiative.

“This kind of corporate behaviour indicates that they will stop at nothing in order to push their agenda to exploit gold under the pretext of feasibility studies geotechnical investigations in the most corrupt manner…”

Calling for the immediate cancellation of the PDA, BILL qualifies the action of the Minister of Energy as a clear indication that there are top officials in government working against government action. They mentioned many local initiatives in the power sector that has been destroyed by the Energy Minister.

“The Noun-Wouri hydropower project was brutally snatched from a local company, Africa Energy Company, AEC and given to a foreign firm; Menchum hydropower project was seized from Agreenergy, owned by Cameroonians and handed to a wholly owned foreign company; Mamfe basin hydropower development was seized from a local company, BESCAM, and given to a foreign firm…

“By so doing, he ensures that Cameroonians are deprived of acquiring vital skills needed to develop the sector; discourages local investors from investing in the sector, reduces possibilities for local jobs and opportunities, etc. Cameroon’s emergence by 2035 is seriously compromised, as electrical power is at the heart of economic emergence,” BILL held.

The complainants, however, acknowledged that the attitude of the energy Minister is not a true picture of Government policy where the top leaders of the country are determined to encourage and support local private initiatives in every sector of development.

Meanwhile, all attempts to get officials of Joule Africa comment on the allegations and accusations failed as they would not reply to the questions posted to them through their official website.

On the side of the Ministry of Water Resources and Energy, the officials in the Department of Electricity charged with responding to questions were perpetually on leave or on mission.