October 8 witnessed grand opening ceremony of Phase I Kribi Deepwater Project of Cameroon constructed by CHEC. The ceremony was attended by Paul Biya as the President of Cameroon and his first lady, the Minister of Economic Planning and other Cameroon government officials. Xue Jinwei as Chinese Ambassador to Cameroon and Wu Jingchun as economic and commercial counselor, also attended the ceremony.
In their speech, the President Paul Biya, the Ministry of Economic Planning and other persons highly spoke of traditional friendship and constantly deepening friendly cooperation relationship between China and Cameroon, thanked the Chinese Government for great attention to China-Cameroon relationship and vigorous support of national construction of Cameroon.
Phase I Kribi Deepwater Port Project is located around 30Km to the south of Kribi city The project mainly covers one 50,000-tonnage container berth, one 40,000-tonnage multiple-purpose berth, breakwater, port machinery and other related supporting facilities. The value of contract is USD 489 million, with the construction period of 36 months. 85% of the project fund will be provided by the Export-Import Bank of China by granting preferential buyer’s credit and 15% of the project fund will be raised by the Government of Cameroon .
After completion, the project will become large container transshipment port and comprehensive hub port in the Middle-West Africa and will surely promote economic development of Cameroon.
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Source: chec, October 11, 2011; Image: October 4, 2011