Douala Port Authority unveils ambitious project to renovate fishing terminal.

The strategic project also aims to make the fishing terminal a refrigeration hub for receiving fishery products from all major industrial and international fisheries operating in the Gulf of Guinea, as well as all import/export products requiring the cold chain. 

The project, which falls among priority projects identified in the Development Master Plan of the Port of Douala-Bonabéri, is part of the ambitious programme to renovate and modernise port facilities and equipment, in order to provide a sustainable and appropriate solution to the terminal's deplorable situation. 

The modernisation will be carried out by KAIROS BUSINESS CORPORATION HOLDING (KBC HOLDING), which was retained after bidding because of its consistency with the ambitions set out by PAD. 

This was in accordance with port regulations, after the approval given last June 5, 2023, by the Advisory Steering Committee of the Port Authority of Douala (CCO'PAD). 

An agreement on the authorisation to Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Maintain (DBFOM), a public-private partnership, more commonly known as Build-Operate and Transfer (BOT), was signed recently. 

The General Manager of the Douala Port Authority, Cyrus Ngo'o, and the Director General of the Douala Port Fishing Terminal (DPFT), Moraud Zambo, signed the agreement recently. 

The Douala Port Fishing Terminal (DPFT), it should be said, is a project company set up by the partner which helped to carry out preliminary feasibility studies and drew up the provisional financial model, and negotiate the agreement with PAD, following the signing of a Development Agreement between PAD and KBC Holding on June 9, 2022.

This was in accordance with the recommendations of the Project Steering Committee in its minutes validating the Terms of Reference of the studies at its session of October 27, 2022. 

The agreement, which also authorises industrial sea and fish farming as related activities of the Fishing Port, aims to substantially reduce fish imports, in line with the objectives of the National Development Strategy 2030, NDS30, and in particular the implementation of one of the four pillars to ensure structural transformation of the national economy. 

The partnership approach used to implement the project is based on the port authority's process of transferring industrial and commercial activities to private operators, in accordance with current port regulations, based on Decrees No 2019/034 and 2019/035 of 24 January 2019 to reorganise and approve the statutes of PAD respectively. 

Enter PAD General Manager 

Speaking at the signing ceremony, PAD General Manager, Cyrus Ngo'o, stated that the project aims to provide the Port of Douala-Bonabéri with new facilities for processing and preserving fish products and control the port cold chain, in line with the government's economic objectives and international norms and standards.

“According to initial estimates modelled by the project, fishing activities linked to the new rehabilitated and modernised infrastructure of the Port of Douala's fishing terminal will cover around 28% of Cameroon's fish protein requirements, or 41.6% of national fish production,” Cyrus Ngo'o said.

He expressed delight to the completion of the contractual negotiation process between PAD and Douala Port Fishing Terminal (DPFT) for the realisation of the major project.

PAD boss also thanked the project partner for its deep commitment while reassuring the full availability and commitment in return of the PAD, with a view to achieving the mutually agreed objectives.

Commenting on the state of the existing fishing port, Cyrus Ngo'o, regretted that the Port of Douala-Bonabéri's fishing terminal is in “a state of total disrepair of its cold storage facilities for fish products as a result of ageing and a prolonged halt to investment” in the platform.

He said “most of the infrastructures and superstructures of the current fishing port date back to colonial times and have not undergone any rehabilitation since their construction, and are virtually all out of service”.

PAD boss said as a result of this, “the fishing port currently operates on the bangs of the norms and standards required for the operation of such a platform”.

The situation, Cyrus Ngo'o insisted, “is having negative effects that are likely to compromise the attractiveness and competitiveness of the Port of Douala-Bonabéri”. 

The state of the fishing port, he added, is also having “a negative impact on trade in fish products in Cameroon”, making the “economy almost totally dependent on imported products, and making it difficult to control the quality and cost of these products on the market”. 

Cyrus Ngo'o also regretted that despite the numerous measures taken by the government over the years, notably in terms of tax exemption for fish imported into Cameroon and incentives for investment in the aquaculture sector and the aquaculture value chain, to ensure that households have access to quality fish products, in sufficient quantity and at reduced prices, such objectives are regrettably still far from being achieved.

“According to official statistics, current fish production is still unable to meet national demand for fish proteins, despite the accelerating pace of national imports of frozen fish, worth around 100 billion CFA francs a year,” Cyrus Ngo'o noted.  

He said the development of the fishing port's infrastructure and superstructure, which is currently in a state of disrepair, aims to protect the national market from total dependence on imports of fish products, and to contribute to the fight against food insecurity in Cameroon which appears inevitable due to various crisis that marked the global context. 

Cyrus Ngo'o said it is on this backdrop, and in view of Cameroon's development policy geared towards the structural transformation of the national economy, with particular emphasis on the import-substitution approach, that the “original vision of the Douala fishing port needs to be restored, positioning it as a major infrastructure supporting the supply of quality fish products to the national market at reasonable cost”. 

Zoom on investment plan 

The agreement, it should be said, covers a five-year period. It includes the design that is expected to take two years and construction to cover three years. 

The operation, the agreement detailed, will cover a 25-year period with the project expected to be commissioned between 2028-2029. 

As per the agreement, the logistics facilities, infrastructure and superstructure of the sub-group will be deployed on two sites (North and South), separated by a water body and a quayside strip covering a total surface area of 30,009 m². 

Phase 1 of the project will cover the Southern zone of the terminal where a multi-purpose ultra-modern refrigeration platform comprising cold rooms covering a surface area of 2,908 m² with a theoretical capacity of 21,810 m³ and refrigerated warehouses covering a surface area of 7,500 m² with a theoretical cold storage capacity of 56,250 m³ as well as new quay 100m long and 26m wide with a draught of 5.5 m and a storage area for 100 40-foot containers will be erected. 

Phase 2 will handle the Northern zone of the terminal to comprise a fish product sorting-processing-packaging plant with a capacity of 350 tonnes/day; an R+5 administrative building; a 300 tonnes/day ice plan; a fish meal production plant; sales halls.

The establishment of a sea farm and the acquisition of pelagic and shrimp trawlers are equally integral parts of the partner's investment plan in the modernisation project. 

Financial benefits of project

The financial arrangements for the project, as set out in the agreement, includes investment costs of 131.2 billion FCFA excluding tax. 

The agreement also details that financing is entirely provided by the promoter, without endorsement or guarantee from PAD or the state of Cameroon. 

Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for the project is estimated at 15.7% over 25 years while total fees for PAD is estimated at 364.6 billion FCFA.

The project promoter is estimated to make a net profit of 761.3 billion over 25 years, while total taxes generated by the project is estimated to be 375 billion over 25 years. 

Details of the agreement also indicate the project will generate a total 739.6 billion over 25 years to the state revenue.

Social impact of project 

The project, under the terms of the agreement, is expected to create 600 direct jobs and 1,500 indirect jobs as well as promote the training and professional integration of young Cameroonian graduates and apprentices, in line with government's policy of promoting employment, social and professional integration. 

The Partner undertakes to put in place an approach aimed at training and integrating young Cameroonian graduates into its workforce.