Railway capacity and expansion issues: the need for the modest railways in Cameroon
Posté le : sept. 3, 2014, Par : Hannah - Dans : Actualités
Convention signed between the Republic of Cameroon and Cam Iron S.A known as the “Mbalam Convention” where the role of the Ministry of Public Works was spelt out in the construction of railway in Cameroon, to transport liquid form LOLABE to MBALAM. It was sign by the Minister of Public Works, Patrice Amba Salla in presence with the partners of Cam Iron.
Mbalam convention describe the terms of the railway regime, need to incorporate the firm and practical principles that facilitate the safe and effective construction and operation of the railway facilities to meet the long term objectives of the Cameroon, and preserve the rights of the project proponent, Rail Co, which will accede to the rights and obligations of Cam Iron SA (CAM IRON) under the Mbalam Project.
The Ministry of Public Works being the sole project owner in charge of the construction, maintenance and technical supervision of public buildings, roads and bridges, of the said project, in which iron ore will be transported through Railway, and Rail Co.
Mineral Terminal Agreement was negotiated between the State, Kribi Operational Unit and Cam Iron SA, in other to achieve this objective there are some key operating principles to sets out various rights and obligations of the State and Cam Iron, in relation to the transition of the Mbalam project in the Republic of Cameroon, from an exploration project to a production project. The initial start-up project will produce at 40 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) wet and 35 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) dry for Cam Iron operation. 15 Mtpa capacity for Cam Iron ahead of any third party access seekers, operating as far as possible on a run when ready rail operating methodology; irrespective of the number of, and capacity granted to, third parties requiring haulage on the railway. For ore being transported from both the Mbarba mine in Cameroon, and the Nabeba mine in Republic of Congo, the ration of tones of production from these two mines will vary on an on-going basis in order to meet the export product specification, that is achieved by blending the ore between the two mines at the port prior to or during loading onto vessels. the entire trains consists are to be identical so that any train can be rerouted to any mine, to enable the Railway to efficiently deal with mine and port plant breakdowns, through preserving the useable Railway capacity in real time.
In addition, the total length of the rail is preview from 516 km to 700km which in cost range from 6 million fcfa per km amounted to 500 billion fcfa as the total amount put for this construction.
