The port of Douala-Bonabéri continues to modernize its infrastructure and superstructures in order to bring more added value to port operators and more competitiveness to the Cameroonian economy. In this context, Afriland First Bank has just disbursed €24 million to Cameroon.

The construction of these storage areas is part of a vast plan to modernize the port platform, the main gateway for trade between Cameroon and its neighbors chad and the Central African Republic. The Société de gestion des magasins portuaires (SGMP) and Afriland First Bank have concluded a financing agreement at a total cost of 16 billion FCFA for the construction of cale stores at the conventional terminal of the port of Douala-Bonabéri. Under the agreement signed in October 2020 between the Erdem Group, SGMP's parent company, and the Autonomous Port of Douala (PAD), the project will be carried out under a BOOT – Build-Own-Operate Transfer contract.

The concession is planned to last 25 years. SGMP will also operate and maintain the medians surrounding the cale stores. Indeed, the "stall stores or temporary depot areas [...] built in the years before Cameroon's independence are out of step with the current dynamics in the port sector," explains the manager. The port of Douala is home to more than 80% of Cameroonian industries that are installed in the port area and its surroundings (Bonaberi, downstream and upstream areas). With 13 bonded stores, it has a storage capacity of 11 million tons. At the end of the 25-year contract, the port authority will earn more than 8 billion FCFA and 10 new stores, without paying a single franc.