By Bakah Derick
The idea of a dry port for the North West has resurfaced again in Bamenda. Talks on the issue came as a deliberation during the first ever budgetary session of the North West Regional Assembly from the 20-22 December 2021.
In one of four deliberations read during the session was a proposal for studies on the posiblities for a dry port in the North West Region.
According to the commissioner for Economy and Planning Gejung Awunti, this is a possible and necessary project for the region.
"The benefit to the region is that we access to certain revenues, we have transfer of technology which will enable us to carry this function, jobs that will be created and of course efficiency for the local business man." He said
Under the control of customs services, people in the region will be able to receive and send goods here without travelling to Douala he explained.
The proposal received a 100 per cent vote from the regional Councillors who consider this beneficial to the region.
The commissioner has insisted that though with the transportation difficulties witnessed by the region with poor roads, no functional aiport and no railway, the dry port project remains very feasible.
This is not the first time the dry port project is mentioned in the region. The former member of parliament for Bamenda-Bali Hon Fobi Nchinda Simon had earlier talked about the project in 2014. Hon Fobi combined the project with the Industrial Zone and the Bamena referral hospital. All the projects are yet to see the light of day despite takeoff of the last two.