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The Cameroon Railways Company (Camrail) currently managed by the Bolloré Group have announced the commissioning of nine new locomotives. Camrail says the ceremony will take place in Douala and will be chaired by Cyrille Bolloré,the General Manger of Bolloré Transport Logistics.

The locomotives equipped with a towing capacity of 3,000 horsepower each were delivered to Camrail by a South African company, Grindrod, which supplies locomotives to 43 African countries. Camrail has reportedly invested 13.5 billion CFA francs in restructuring railway transport systems in Cameroon. 

According to statistics, Camrail transports 1.6 million passengers and about 1,650 million tonnes of cargo each year.

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Ngwa Bertrand

19.Oct.2015

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Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said on Monday that a top priority for Iran in a post-sanctions era will be to get back the share of the global oil market it lost to its rivals as a result of the US-engineered sanctions, stressing that the country will not wait for anybody’s permission over this. Zangeneh told reporters that some OPEC members have welcomed Iran’s return to the oil market and that the traditional clients of Iran’s oil are waiting for new purchases from the country.

He emphasized that Iran is ready to increase its export capacity by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) immediately after the sanctions are remove in lieu with the nuclear deal with the P5+1 group of countries. Zangeneh further said American oil giants can participate in Iran’s oil projects. However, he added that they have still not received the green-light from the US government to do so. Iran’s current oil production is estimated to be around 2.7 million barrels per day of which about 1 million barrels are exported – as required by the current regime of sanctions. The Buhari administration in Nigeria should develop new strategy to get Nigeria out of its present state of confused identity and over reliance on petrol dollar. 

Iran’s oil minister elsewhere in his remarks emphasized that he sees no imminent change in OPEC’s output strategy even as he urged fellow members of the group to cut their collective production to buoy crude to a range of $70 to $80 a barrel. “No one is happy” with prices at current levels, Bloomberg has quoted him as saying. “OPEC should decide to manage the market by reducing the level of production,” Zanganeh said. “It seems that the atmosphere is not well for making a change in the market.”

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Ngwa Bertrand

19.Oct.2015

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China slapped a one-year ban on African ivory hunting trophy imports, the state forestry authority said on Thursday ahead of a trip by President Xi Jinping to Britain, where members of the royal family have urged China to crack down on the ivory trade. Conservationists say China's growing appetite for contraband ivory imports, which are turned into jewels and ornaments, has fueled a surge in poaching in Africa. 

In March, Britain's Prince William urged an end to the trade during a visit to a Chinese elephant sanctuary in the southwestern province of Yunnan. Xi is scheduled to travel to Britain between Oct. 19-23, where he will stay at Buckingham Palace, home to the royal family. China's State Forestry Administration said in a statement posted on its website that it would "temporarily prohibit" trophy imports until Oct. 15, 2016 and "suspend the acceptance of relevant administrative permits". It did not give further details, though the official Xinhua news agency said a government review is under way on whether to extend a separate one-year ban made in February on imports of African ivory carvings.

The policy also follows a deal to enact nearly complete bans on ivory imports and exports made during Xi's September state visit to the United States. Within China, the trade and sale of ivory carvings are legal if the items were imported before the country joined the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1981, or come from a stock of 62 tonnes of raw-ivory bought from four African countries in 2008 as a one-time exemption. The government releases a portion of that stockpile each year to ivory carving factories.

China crushed 6.2 metric tonnes (6.83 tons) of confiscated ivory early last year in its first such public destruction of any part of its stockpile. However, the country still ranks as the world's biggest end-market for poached ivory, according to the World Wildlife Fund. In June, a Tanzanian government minister described elephant poaching as a national disaster, and urged China to curb its appetite for ivory.

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Ngwa Bertrand

15.Oct.2015

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Experts from Cameroon and Chad are presently examining the partial findings of feasibility studies carried out for the construction of a bridge over the River Logone. The bilateral pilot committee is currently in their second session that started on 12th October 2015 in Yaounde. Experts reportedly frowned at the fact that the institution identified to carry out the study has been lagging behind – the 18-month deadline for the presentation of the complete study has elapsed.

Officials from the two countries have decried the situation but are determined to identify a specific chronogram for the construction of the all-important project that has been initiated to enhance sub regional integration. The recent canoe accident that killed seven persons in the Logone River is being considered a glaring example of the need for the bridge to be constructed. 

Upon completion, the bridge will serve in facilitating transportation of people and goods between Cameroon and Chad, thereby enhancing trade. It will link up the towns of Yagoua in Cameroon and Bongor in Chad.

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Ngwa Bertrand

14.Oct.2015

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Three partner institutions of the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development have received equipment intended for research and interpretation of geophysical data in the country. The equipments purchased by the Mining Sector Capacity Building Project PRECASEM with funding from the World Bank was handed to the beneficiaries by the new minister of Mines, Ernest Ngwaboubou on Monday the 7th of October 2015.

The Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development exhorted the users to ensure the strengthening of local and regional mining activities in the country. According to the Director of Geology in the Mining Industry,Theophile Ndugsa,the new equipment will help the mining industries to be efficient in the extraction of mineral substances in the country. 

Meron Yannah a researche and part of the team that just carried out a successful airbone survey on natural resources on the geophysical landscape of Cameroon thanked the donors and noted Cameroon's zeal to further research on the geology. She added that Cameroon has hidden resources like graphite, bauxite, diamond amongst others that if efficiency exploited will boost economic development. Acquiring these equipment is timely as Cameroon mining still remains at the margins of her economy.

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Ngwa Bertrand

09.Oct.2015

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The Cameroonian government just launched six distinct call to tenders directed to firms operating in the construction sector. These calls to tenders involve the rehabilitation of roads in the Northern part of Cameroon knowingly the Adamaoua, Extreme-North and North regions.

The road network to rehabilitate during the 2016 budget year covers 1,331 Km and works for the rehabilitation have been estimated to 4,950 billion FCFA. Most of this work will take place in the Northern region, on 747 Km and cost 2.5 billion FCFA, whilst the remaining part will be carried out in the Adamaoua and Extreme-North regions for 1.550 billion FCFA and 1.6 billion FCFA respectively (315 Km and 538 Km are to be rehabilitated in each of these regions).

Bidders are to submit their proposals latest by November 2, 2015 at the Ministry of public works in Yaoundé.

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Ngwa Bertrand

09.Oct.2015

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