Story by Norbert Wasso Binde
The delineation of the boundary limits of the impending Limbe deep seaport met a huge snag on Tuesday, December 12, 2022 when the team executing the ministerial order signed in August got to the Down Beach area.
They met with stiff resistance from the chiefs led by the Paramount ruler, HM John Manga Williams, municipal authorities led by the City Mayor, Efome Paul Ngale and elite led by the Honourable Member of Parliament, Hon. Etombi Ikome Gladys.
Opposition to the take-over of the Down Beach area by PAL has been brewing for months now since it reached the ears of Limbe municipal authorities that PAL was allegedly requesting for 50 hectares of land at the Down Beach area.
The move as seen by the chiefs and council authorities especially the Limbe City Council shall totally strip them of a vital component of the municipality’s tourist, entertainment and economic hub because of the sheer number of people who either visit the Alfred Saker Monument, take a breeze walk along the beach or visit the buckaroos to eat fish.
Worthy of note is the fact that all major canoe race festivals have taken place at the Down Beach and the chiefs are bent not to let go of this legacy.
The Left Bank Maritime Development Program
Even more worrying for the Limbe City Council is the ongoing Left Bank Maritime Projectwhich later became The Limbe Left Bank Maritime Development Program which was one of the signature projects of the late City Mayor, Motanga Andrew Monjimba.
The mega billion francs project consisted of building an ultra-modern conference centre, shopping mall, museum etc. A transformative project, the presidency gave its approval and the execution was being piloted by the Ministry of Economy, Plan and Regional Development with the Minister Delegate assigned to follow up execution.
Minister Tasong has already presided many meetings to this effect and detailed studies have been done and hundreds of millions paid out. Studies for the resettlement sites for the fishermen and affected persons currently occupying the selected sites for the LLBMDP at Down Beach were reportedly completed since February 2022.
New Projects
The new City Mayor, Efome Paul and his team have mapped out two new projects to extend the transformation of Limbe. They are the extension/creation of a new city at Mabeta with the construction of the road Tiko to Bimbia and the update of the Limbe Urban master Plan 2024 to 2039.
From all indications, if the quest of the alleged 50ha land is given up to the seaport project the City Council may say bye bye to its lofty plans and lose maybe the soul of the municipality.
PAL defends its stance
In his interaction with journalists a few weeks back when the issue was raised at the Budget Orientation Debate of the City Council,Dr. Thomas Ndive Molungu, Director Delegate of the Transitional Administration of the Port Authority of Limbe said the aim of his institution was to upgrade the Down Beach area since they shall have the means and allow the Council or whoever to run tourists and economic activities there, noting further that the Deep seaport will not totally confiscate the place.
To break Tuesday’s deadlock, the Senior Divisional Officer for Fako, Mr. Chaibou ordered for the surveyors to continue with the demarcation exercise and that any opposition to the ongoing delineation would be made during an evaluation at the end of the demarcation which has already taken place in the other sites.
Ministerial Order
It should be noted that the Minister of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, Mr. Henri Eyebe Ayissi, on August 16, 2022 signed Ministerial Order No 1745 declaring as Public Utility Service works to fix and secure the boundary limits of sites necessary for the development of port activity.
The Limbe Deep Sea Port sites concerned by the Ministerial Order are: Down Beach, Bota, Ngeme, Cape Limboh (Sonara, National Shipyard), Isongo, Idenau and Tiko.
These sites are all situated in Fako Division of the South West Region.
Article 7 of Minister Eyebe’s Ministerial Order clearly suspends all Land property and Real Estate transactions as well as the issuance of Building Permits on these chosen sites.
All private property found on these chosen sites will be expropriated and their owners compensated so as to give the new Limbe Deep Seaport enough land on which to carry out its activities.
A Commission presided by the Senior Divisional Officer for Fako will be put in place to define the boundaries of the sites, identify owners, and submit to Minister Eyebe Ayissi who shall prepare files for expropriation and compensation to be signed by the Prime Minister, Head of Government after the visa of the Head of State.
Thus, the Limbe Deep Sea Port is happening. Minister Eyebe’s move confirms the Prime Minister Chief Dr. Joseph Dion Ngute is at The Star Building working on the Limbe Deep Sea Port file.
Six months ago, there was a split between the Douala Port and the Limbe Port with the appointment by the Port Authority of Douala followed by the installation of Limbe-born Dr. Thomas Ndive Molungu as Director Delegate of the Transitional Administration of the Port Authority of Limbe on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
Initially, Ngeme (15m deep) was chosen to host the Seaport but later changed to Isonge (17m deep) in 2013 and back to Ngeme in 2016. On December 21, 2018, a meeting held in Yaounde to review and validate the financing terms of the feasibility study.