Mines, transport ministers hold talks with Congolese PM in Brazzaville.

The discussions, which held Tuesday November 5 in Congo’s capital, Brazzaville, bordered on issues of common interests between both friendly nations.

The audience, which held behind closed doors, took place on the sidelines of the signing Tuesday in Brazzaville, of a Built-Operate-Transfer, BOT partnership contract for the financing, design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Nabeba -Mbalam-Avima multi-billion railway line. 

Details of the meeting were not immediately made public, but The Guardian Post gathered that issues related to the fostering of development between both countries were on the front burner during the discussions.

In an outing on its verified Facebook Page yesterday, Cameroon’s Ministry of Mines, disclosed that throughout the exchanges in Brazzaville, the Minister of Transport, Jean Ernest Masséna Ngalle Bibehe, and the Interim Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Prof Fuh Calistus Gentry, reaffirmed to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo, Anatole Collinet Makosso, the commitment of President Paul Biya, to making the Nabeba-Mbalam-Avima railway line a reality. 

The Cameroonian authorities, who were accompanied by the Congolese Minister of State, Minister of Mining Industries and Geology, Pierre Oba, also informed their host of President Biya’s resolve to make Subregional cooperation a reality. 

Authorities said the second phase of the signing of the contract, the first of which took place in February 2022, in Yaounde, is an important step in the realisation of the Nabeba-Mbalam-Avima railway line.

The project, authorities noted, is dear to President Paul Biya of Cameroon and his counterpart of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso. 

The laying of the foundation stone for the construction of the said railway line is expected to take place in Cameroon in the days ahead.

Once the railway line is constructed, mining will begin on the Mbalam-​Nabeba sites, which has an estimated 775 million tonnes of iron ore. 

The over 500 kilometres (310 miles) of rail needs to be built to transport the ore to the coast of Cameroon.

Projects requiring significant infrastructure investment have become more viable due to a surge in iron ore prices, which hit a record high in 2021, as a rebound in demand for the key steel-making ingredient from top consumer China outpaced supply.