Rumpi Prioritises Roads, Water, Markets For 2008
By Ernest Sumelong
The Rumpi Area Participatory Development Project will focus on building roads, developing and rehabilitating water schemes and constructing markets in rural areas in 2008.
Developing farm-to-market roads is one of Rumpi's challenges for 2008
Rumpi Coordinator, Dr. Besong Ogork Ntui, revealed this to the press as part of the Project's work plan for 2008 at the end of its fifth steering committee meeting that held at the SOWEDA Conference Hall on Thursday, November 15.
The meeting, chaired by the Secretary General in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Jean Claude Eko'o Akouafane, held after the African Development Bank, ADB, lifted sanctions, which it had hitherto placed on financial disbursement to Rumpi since May 2006.
"We hope that in 2008, major projects that will directly contribute towards poverty reduction will take off. We are looking at road construction for which studies are going on and after that the contract would be awarded.
Also, technicians are in the field carrying out studies on water schemes and we hope that those studies would be completed soon so that we can start the construction and rehabilitation of these water projects. Equally, we have just completed studies for the construction of 20 rural markets.
These documents have been sent to
the bank and have been published. We hope that early next year we would
be able to award these contracts for work to go ahead," Ntui said.
At the meeting, steering committee members adopted two documents - the
work plan and the budget for 2008.
The Coordinator revealed that about FCFA 6. 5 billion was adopted as budget for 2008. The work plan, Ntui said, has four components: capacity-building, agricultural production and productivity enhancement, access to markets and rural infrastructure.
Turning Point For Rumpi
Earlier, the Secretary General who deputised the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, noted that the adoption of the two documents and approved by the Bank, "shall constitute an important path finder of the Rumpi Project for the Project Implementation Team, as 2008 is definitely the turning point for Rumpi.
He described the moment in the life of the Project as crucial and announced an imminent mid term review by their partners from the ADB. According to him, the mid term review will give the project a new orientation that will enable it to effectively and efficiently achieve its objective.
The six-year project that has gone for three years already has faced certain constraints, which led many to believe that its success would be difficult to come by. The constraints coupled with managerial lapses, The Post learned, compelled the ADB to suspend financial disbursement to Rumpi for over a year now. Also, the former Coordinator, Dr. Fabien Ekue, was replaced with Dr. Ntui, the new Coordinator.
After the lifting of the suspension, the Coordinator said they are expecting a second disbursement since the Bank had done just one disbursement for the project as far a revolving fund is concerned.
On why the Bank suspended the disbursement of funds to Rumpi, Ntui said admittedly that they were responsible for some of the problems, while others were beyond their control. "One of the factors that led to the suspension was that we did not have vehicles and Government provided them.
He, however, said there are major projects carried out, which were being paid directly by the Bank. Dr. Ntui said the Bank has already been committed to about FCFA one billion to the project. He expressed gratitude to the government whom he said has been very supportive through the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development and Finance.
In spite of fears that the project might not be completed by the stipulated time, the Coordinator expressed optimism that they would record success.
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