The Ministry of Public Works (MINTP), government’s engineer in matters of public works infrastructure, is seeking ways of putting in place a databank of evolutions in infrastructure technology for use in the short, medium and long-terms.

A two-day sensitization workshop under the auspices of Minister Patrice Amba Salla on technology surveillance ended in Yaounde November 12.

Speaking during the opening ceremony on Tuesday November 11, the Minister said MINTP being government’s technical supervisory and control authority of public works infrastructure needed to be proactive and innovative. He said an emerging economy which Cameroon aspires requires aligning with the rest of the world in terms of modernization.

Reason why, he said, there was need to adopt different technologies for the execution of infrastructure projects. Drawing up the standards for quality infrastructure, giving an orientation for research as well as training in matters of public works infrastructure, Minister Amba Salla said, are issues which could be easily handled if the country has a technology databank.

Given the inherent quest for excellence, the Minister added that his ministry could not but go for technological innovations that can help it meet its objectives. Trace, collect, analyse and publish information on technological advancements, new materials and procedures are what the ministry needs to embrace in the technology databank vision. “This signifies a change of attitude and a permanent search for information susceptible to giving us a veritable value addition in our infrastructure,” he added.

According to the General Manager of the Directorate General of MINTP, Guy Daniel Abouna Zoa, the databank will help in disposing information that can improve performance of infrastructure development and in so doing engendering competitiveness.

He said elsewhere thanks to technology databank, best architects are taken and best projects undertaken and executed to be up-to-date with infrastructure development. The workshop is in line with the September 13, 2013 reorganisation of the Ministry of Public Works notably with the creation of the Departments of Infrastructure and that of Technical Studies.