Public and Private partnership: The United bank for Africa (UBA) pens down a loan agreement with the Douala city council.
7billion cfa franc is the loan signed to the Douala city council by the United bank for Africa , for the acquisition of machinery and other public works equipment , so as to help in the construction of roads and carry out other developmental projects in the economic capital , Douala.
The Douala council hall, played host for the loan endorsement between the United bank for Africa (UBA ) and the Douala city council, on Wednesday August 17, 2022.
This loan billed at 7billion cfa will be used in financing the second phase of the councils projects , which are ; to construct and rehabilitate major highways in the economic capital, the partial renewal of the councils service vehicles and other related expenses , including maintenance.
Roger Mbassa NDINE, The Douala city mayor explains, this budget will help the council to timely intervene in the roads rehabilitation process before the small potholes turn to large chuckholes .
«Roads in Douala are in a deplorable state , due to the fact that, road control lacks sufficient tools to timely intervene. So small potholes stretches out if unattended. This is because we lack the finance to fix them when they are still small. That’s why , we are acquiring this funds . If we want our roads to last longer, we need to intervene as early as possible when it starts degrading»
UBA is accompanying the authorities in Douala for the second time , as the first concord was signed on March 4 2021. The councils debt tally now stands at 10.2 billion cfa. The trust gained from this agreement has influence this financial entity to reduce its interest rate from 6.75 for the first to 6.25 now.
Jude Anele , Managing Director for UBA Cameroon confirms
«After the first engament , as we are going to the second engagement, the manner in which the council handled the first engagement gave us confidence and faith and believe that they can handle it. That means the risk we envisage earlier dropped. Our risk perception of the council dropped »
He further explains, «The first level of control we have is at the level of the council, from the point where we are considering the loan and the purpose of the loan, that’s at the point where the council shared the control mechanism for both the allocation of funds and the monetary and execution of the job itself»
Worth noting is , the total amount of 7 billion will not be transferred to the council , however, it will be kept by the bank to be distributed to the different suppliers .
As for when these projects will commence , the boss of all municipalities in Douala estimates January 2023, with the first batch of equipments set to arrive by October 2022.
«If we are to take into consideration the deadline for the équipements delivery and the implementation of certain actions, I think we should wait for the end of the rainy season. That is by October , to see the first actions , it can’t be any faster because rot has to be done for the meantime. We have signed the loan agreement and from here , we will launch a call for specialized suppliers with proven experience in the supply and maintenance of civil engineering equipment . You know how long this can take ».
This partnership is just a starting point , for more collaborations between the council and the United bank for Africa .
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