The Port Store Management Company (SGMP), a subsidiary of Erdem Holding, and Afriland First Bank, a full-service bank in Cameroon, have signed a close to US$ 28.5M, (excluding taxes & bank interest) financing agreement for the construction of new hold stores at the conventional terminal of the port of Douala-Bonabéri.
SGMP is the company bestowed the responsibility for the construction of the said facilities as per an agreement signed between its parent company (Erdem Holding) and the Autonomous Port of Douala (PAD).
The project, as per the agreement, will be carried out under a BOOT (Build-Own-Operate and Transfer) model. The concession is scheduled to last for a period of 25 years. SGMP will also be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the medians surrounding the proposed hold stores.
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A part of a vast plan to modernize the port platform
The construction of the proposed storage areas is a part of a vast plan to modernize the port platform, which is the main gateway for trade between Cameroon and its neighbors particularly the Republic of Chad and the Central African Republic.
According to Cyrus Ngo’o the Director-General for the Autonomous Port of Douala the proposed hold stores will replace the existing ones which were built before the central African country’s independence and which are “out of step with the current dynamics in the port sector”.
The port of Douala is home to more than 80 percent of Cameroonian industries that are located in the port area and its surroundings (Bonaberi, downstream and upstream areas) and it has a storage capacity of 11 million tonnes, owing to its only 13 bonded warehouses.
At the end of the 25-year contract, the port authority will earn more than US$ 14.5M and 10 new stores.
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