Water & Energy Infrastructure Dev’t : Batchenga Wakes Up To A New Dawn

The municipality of Batchenga is on the verge of becoming unlike it was a few years ago thanks to three key projects being executed around River Sanaga. The construction of Stretch 1 (Batchenga-Ntui) of the Batchenga-Ntui-Yoko-Lena-Tibati road is almost nearing completion. A bridge which is under construction over the Sanaga river is gradually taking shape and will replace a hitherto ferry which has been limiting movement between Batchenga and Ntui. It is often said where a road passes, development follows. But Batchenga is in a lucky class of its own. The road project is still being executed, yet two other development projects have already followed. 
The Potable Water Supply Project in Yaounde and Environs from River Sanaga has already begun bearing good fruits for Batchenga in particular. Tens of solar-powered street lamps now light the street from the center of the municipality towards Ntui. Officials of China National Machinery Industry Corporation (SINOMOCH); the company executing the water project, said they will continue with the installation right up to Ntui.
The ongoing projects in the municipality have also come along with hundred of jobs for previously desperate and idle youths - they are now either directly or indirectly employed. The road construction, water project and Nachtigal hydroelectricity projects have absorbed many residents of the locality who render their skilled and unskilled labour for a socially-acceptable wage. Jean Olivier T., a youth in his 30s who has spent the greater part of the last three years accompanying his father to the farm, says he is now moving towards independence. “At first, I depended on my parents for almost everything, including basics like clothes and panties. Now, I have a source of income at PAEPYS and can make a saving which will help me carry out a project in future,” he disclosed...