Douala Port Authority poised to cut dredging costs to 2 billion FCFA by 2025.

According the Director General of the PAD, Cyril Ngo’o, between 1987 and 2019, PAD spent 180.6 billion FCFA on dredging, with 156 billion FCFA spent between 2004 and 2019, averaging 10.5 billion FCFA per year over the last 15 years. 

In response to these high costs, PAD established its own Dredging Management Agency and acquired two new dredgers for its waterways, quays, docks, and channels.

Since then, dredging costs have continued to tumble. Specifically, in 2021, dredging costs were 2.9 billion FCFA and increased to over 5.6 billion FCFA in 2022, the period when the Chantal Biya Dredger was out of use. 

The Port Authority of Douala had projected these costs would reach 18 billion FCFA over the next three years, averaging 6 billion FCFA per year, as delivery of the dredger continued to be delayed. 

By cutting these costs to less than 2 billion FCFA annually, PAD stands to save over 4 billion FCFA each year compared to the initial estimates, management stated.

According to management, with the delivery of the Chantal Biya Dredger, PAD’s ability to manage its dredging needs internally is highly boosted and it will help in reducing reliance on multinational companies that charge exorbitantly for dredging works.

The Chantal Biya dredger, named after Cameroon’s First Lady, returned to the Douala Port on August 16, 2024, after being renovated at ShipSidedrydock in Nigeria. 

The 54-meter-long, multifunctional dredger, which can dredge up to 12 meters deep, had been out of service for ten years the management of the institution disclosed. Originally purchased in 1997, it is now back and ready to be put to effective use.

Management further announced that the renovation works, initially expected to last for six months at an estimated cost of 1.7 billion FCFA, finally ended up taking some 20 months. 

The final cost of the renovation was not disclosed by the PAD officials but detailed that the renovation works included restoring the dredger’s nine engines, replacing hull plates, sandblasting, painting, overhauling the hull valves, upgrading all operational systems, and installing new dredging equipment.

With its return, the Chantal Biya Dredger will henceforth be used for essential tasks at the facility, including maintaining and deepening waterways, docks, quays, and secondary channels. 

This gives reason for the optimism expressed by the PAD management to cut dredging costs to under 2 billion FCFA per year in the coming years.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3206 of Thursday August 22, 2024