Yaounde, Cameroon Africa. (Cameroon News) – The European Union has provided an assistance of FCFA 16.727 billion to develop remote areas in the East, Far North and North West Regions of Cameroon within the framework of the four-year Rural Development Program.
The Head of the European Union Commission to Cameroon, Raul Mateus Paula disclosed the assistance in Mbengwi, North West Region on May 30, 2011, as he co-chaired the North West Development Programme to be funded with FCFA 6.4 billion, representing 38 percent of the total assistance package.
The assistance programme is intended to strengthen the socio-economic network infrastructure, provide long lasting support to the economy and improve of capacities and incomes, Cameroon’s Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Louis Paul Motaze said during the ceremony in Mbengwi.
It is the fallout of the agreement between the Cameroon government and the European Union on May 6, 2010 and is expected to provide solutions to major problems such as poor access to basic services and low income power by financing income generating micro-projects, construction of rural roads and schools, improving potable water and public health facilities.
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Minister Motaze said the North West component of the programme concerns 15 local communities in the Momo, Donga Mantung and Menchum Divisions, as well as Akwaya Subdivision in Manyu Division of the South West Region. He commissioned the Task Force team, Project Manager, Steering Committee and Focal Point of the programme.
Louis Paul Motaze lauded the Cameroon-EU cooperation, citing the Union’s digging of the access road to Lake Nyos that has been undergoing a degassing process after gas emissions from it killed over 1700 people in 1986 and thousands of animals. He further revealed that the 10th European Development Fund has retained funding of the component pertaining to agricultural production capacity building.
Raul Mateus Paula said the E.U was a leading contributor of development aid in Cameroon, stating that the Rural Development Program came at a time when the Cameroon government and its technical and financial partners were looking for ways and means to alleviate poverty.
