Camwater To Expand Role To Include Water Supply

The government officials, Camwater’s executives, and various experts in the water sector are meeting in Kribi to review the first amendment to the concession contract between the State of Cameroon and Camwater.

The meeting which has been holding in Kribi since May 22, 2023, is expected to lead to the adoption of the amendment, which will officially make Camwater responsible for the production, transportation, and distribution of potable water in Cameroon. 

The amendment will officialise what Camwater has already been doing for five years now in an informal manner.  A Presidential decree on February 20, 2018, put the water utilities corporation in charge of the production, transportation, and distribution of potable water in urban and peri-urban areas. Before that date, Camwater was only in charge of the provision of potable water. 

The 2018 decree officially ended the activities of La Camerounaise des Eaux (CDE). Ten years earlier, CDE, which was controlled by a consortium of Moroccan investors led by Onep, inherited the tasks of producing, transporting, and distributing drinking water in Cameroon, after the National Water Company SNEC was privatised, giving birth to Camwater, a company in charge of the managing and developing of infrastructure in the water sector. 

The Camwater-CDE tandem failed to adequately provide drinking water with the country experiencing repeated failures in supply. The situation led the government to renationalise the water supply industry with the February 20, 2018 decree. However, there was no contract to officially put Camwater in charge.