Some 120 workers of the Cameroon Timber Exploitation Company (acronymed SEPBC in French) have been honoured for their loyalty, long service and efficiency in a ceremony that took place at the company esplanade at Base Navale in Douala on Friday Jan 23, in the presence of the governor of the Littoral Region, Joseph Beti Assomo, the Regional Director of the Gulf of Guinea, Mohamed Diop, other government officials and invited guests.

Created in 1971 and affiliated to the Bolloré group since 1994, it is now the biggest timber exploitation and loading service in Francophone Africa thanks to government support.

As part of government support, the government asked the Douala Ports Authority to surrender more space to the company to facilitate loading procedures for commercialization.

In line with government policy as spelt out by the regime, the private sector has the full support of the government to create employment, the governor, Beti Assomo stated.

The Cameroon Timber Exploitation Company employs 450 workers including 1,000 others through their subcontractors. According to the Board chair Aoudou Dandjouma, the budget for their yearly innovative priorities was approximately FCFA 2 billion in 2014 for equipment in exploitation while this year’s budget stands at FCFA 3 billion for the same objective.

Production increased to 1,203,000 Cubic metres of timber in 2014 and since the 9 year period (2005-2014) have realized FCFA 8.86 billion for the state.