Two concession agreements were signed in Yaounde between the Ministry of Water Resources and Energy and the National Electricity Transport Corporation, Friday April 27, 2018.
After a one-month transition period, beginning April 27, 2018, the National Electricity Transport Corporation (SONATREL) will be fully in charge of managing the country's electricity transport network. Two concession agreements transferring competences from Energy of Cameroon (Eneo) to SONATREL were signed in Yaounde between Eloundou Essomba Gaston, Minister of Water Resources and Energy and Victor Mbemi Nyaknga, Director General of SONATREL. Following the granting of the concessions to SONATREL, the State corporation still has to pursue some formalities in order to make it fully operational. We learned negotiations for new transmission contracts have to be finalised while other important documents are yet to be produced. However, the transfer of assets and employees have already been settled between Eneo and SONATREL. The Minister of Water Resources and Energy called on actors, who have been assisting in the transition from the beginning, not to relent efforts in seeing that everything is set for the corporation to autonomously and efficiently fulfill its mission of managing the national electricity transport network. During the signing ceremony, Eloundou Essomba charged the management of SONATREL to ensure the putting in place of new electricity transportation lines, especially the Cameroon-Chad and Cameroon- Nigeria lines. He also called on them to improve the transit capacity of the transmission systems in place and reduce transmission losses estimated at 40 per cent. Moreover, the Minister said the number of hours of electricity shutdown due to malfunctions in the transmission system should be curtailed while improving the stability of the electricity transmission system. For his part, the Director General of SONATREL said they were up to the task. He noted that they will do all in their powers to see into it that users get the required energy to power Cameroon's economy wherever they wish. The recent move falls in line with the country's project to upgrade the electricity transport network and reform the sector, which spans 2016-2022.
