Participants especially the Southwest Regional Delegate of Tourism and Leisure, MINTOURL, Peter Pel Elangwe, in a strategic planning meeting for development, have reiterated the need for accessible roads, should there be any constructive development in the Southwest Region.

They made their point in a working session organised by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, MINEPAT for the purpose of validating reference terms for Southwest territorial planning and sustainable development plan, on September 16, held at the Buea Council Hall.

According to Delegate Elangwe, the drafted projects for the Region, in domains like agriculture, tourism, forestry, education, commerce, agro-industry, communication and more can hardly be achieved without good roads and energy supply.

“Let us stop wasting our time enumerating thousands of projects in seminars which can’t achieve in the long run because of poor roads. We have touristic potentials in the Region like Korup National Park over 300years old, Atlantic Ocean with hydrographical networks, Manengouba twin lakes of volcanic origin, but access limits investors and tourists.

We need roads!” Elangwe stated. The Southwest Regional Delegate of Communication, Rosette Muma, on her part, said there is a communication gap which retards growth. She stated that about ¾ of the Region lacks access to information and people cannot be ignorant of what is happening in their country.

She also remarked that in the officially draft plan of action for the Region proposed by MINEPAT, communication was sidelined for which its importance cannot be over-emphasised.

The 1st Deputy Mayor for Limbe I Council, Henry Motomby, complained that persons in committees to effect projects of this nature are hardly locales of these communities which explain why they are not passionate about the development of the area.

“How can we be talking about development in the Southwest Region, and those manning projects are from the North, if the Government is talking about decentralisation, they should also decentralise powers to those concerned,” Motomby said.

Nonetheless, the Mayor of Kombo Abedimo, Patrick Aboko Anki, was very bitter with the fact that 99.9% of crude oil in Cameroon is being produced in the Southwest Region but the Region benefits less from developmental projects and they even spent more money for their produce. He later questioned why the Region can’t be industrialised by the Government.

Meanwhile, the Technical Adviser for MINEPAT, Tanyi-mbianyoi, admitted these constraints but redirected that the law in Cameroon (Law No 2011/2008 of 06 May 2011) clearly demands for a participatory effort to enhance development.

“If we harmonise development in our country through actions from Mayors, we have to think global what we want local. Government has given Mayors the power to do their research and forward their projects to MINEPAT for its implementation,” Tanyi-mbianyoi explained.

However, the Director General for MINEPAT, Janvier Oum Eloma, who stood in for the Minister said if Cameroon is Africa miniature, it means we have all it takes for emergence while reinstating that development is a collective effort.

The workshop which was officiated by the Governor for Southwest Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, had as other participants, MINEPAT officials, the 1st Assistant SDO for Buea, SW Government Delegates, SW Mayors, Councillors, Traditional Authorities, Civil Society Organisations, among others.