Preparations towards 355 km pipeline construction to begin in January 2016

The construction of a 355 km long pipeline to allow the delivery of petroleum products from the refinery at Limbe (South-West) to the capital Yaoundé via Douala the economic capital of the country will start in January next.

The scheduling of the work published Monday shows that the first long stretch of 110 km between Limbe at headquarters of the National Refining Company (SONARA) and Douala begins in January.

The second section will start from Douala to the industrial Edea city (Littoral) with a road stretch of 70 km, and the last step between Edea to Yaoundé with a distance of 175 km.

According to the 3PL consortium responsible for the construction of this pipeline, the estimated cost of this infrastructure is 218 billion FCFA.

This company claims that mobilizing financing will come primarily “to hold a round of investors from China, Korea, Nigeria, Switzerland or Russia which will leverage more than 30 percent of the project cost.”

The rest of the funding will come from loans from banks and investment funds.

Information close to the Stabilization Fund in Oil Prices (HSPC) suggested that the construction of this pipeline could result in lower petroleum costs by at least 20 percent.