Lom Pangar: Engineers drop water level

Engineers working on the Lom Pagnar dam have dropped the water level in order to fill the tank to up to 3 billion cubic meters of water.

On November 24, 2015, the volume of water has reached the expected quota. Lom Pangar engineers have therefore begun operations to drop water originally scheduled for mid-December 2015.

The first objective is to make the Edea and Song Loulou hydro-power plants have the expected volumes of water to allow production to increase from the low-water season. According to Cameroon Tribune on Tuesday, December 1, 2015, the tanks will be used until June 2016.

The newspaper said a team of financial partners were at the Lom Pangar site for a supervision exercise in the presence of the World Bank, the Ambassador of France to Cameroon Christine Robichon, officials from the French Development Agency (AFD ), The European Investment Bank (EIB), the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Bank of Central African States (BEAC).

The Minister of Water and Energy, Basile Atangana Kouna, and director of EDC Victor Mengot Nsangou were also part.

However, some problems have been observed at the level of communication between the workers and the hierarchy.

"There have been misunderstandings between the company and the workers and at other times, between the company and the contract head, sometimes with donors. But note that it is normal for such projects. The important thing is that the dialogue between all actors remains open," explained Stéphane Garnier, representative of the World Bank on the site.

Christine Robichon meanwhile, expressed her satisfaction: "I find that the dam is not completed but it is a reality and is already playing a part of the role assigned to it. There's a big need for electricity generation in Cameroon. Increase production capacity is fundamental," said the Ambassador of France to Cameroon.

For the Minister of Water and Energy, the Lom Pangar dam is a big step towards the emergence of Cameroon.