A Chinese-built water supply project started operation on Tuesday in Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon, promising to end the region’s chronic water shortages.
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The Yaounde City Drinking Water Supply Project (PAEPYS), which is mostly financed by China, is located in Batchenga. It aims to increase the city’s daily drinking water supply from the current 250,000 cubic meters to around 550,000 cubic meters. According to authorities, it is the largest water catchment plant in sub-Saharan Africa.
Cameroon’s Minister for Water and Energy, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, attended the inauguration ceremony and officially turned on the tap of the new water plant, marking the official entry into operation of the project.
“The project was built as part of the China-Cameroon cooperation. It was set up to provide a lasting solution to the shortfall in drinking water production in the city of Yaounde and the surrounding area by producing an additional 300,000 cubic meters per day, which can be increased to 400,000 cubic meters per day,” he said.
An estimated 17,000 U.S. dollars has been allocated towards the extension of this project. The move is expected to ensure that households are supplied with water until 2040.
“As part of this project, 200,000 new connections are to be made and some 60 kilometers of pipes built, which will cover the additional needs of at least 1 million people in Yaounde and the surrounding area who will be newly served by the network before the end of 2025,” said the minister.
The project has a water collection and pumping plant with a capacity of 315,000 cubic meters per day. It is also equipped with seven 1,000 kilowatt centrifugal pumps, a water treatment plant, reservoirs and command stations.
Wang Yingwu, the Chinese Ambassador to Cameroon, described the project as a “major flagship” of Chinese-Cameroonian cooperation.
“As one of the major flagship projects of Chinese-Cameroonian cooperation, and an emblematic project between the two countries, the project to supply drinking water to the city of Yaounde and the surrounding area will effectively do just that – guarantee that supply to Yaounde and the surrounding area once it has been commissioned, and is a genuine project in the general interest,” Wang said at the inauguration ceremony.