These were the words of the standard-bearer of the mandate of challenges on Monday 5 June 2023 at the signing of agreements for the removal of waste from the city of Dschang and the development of the banks of the Municipal Lake.
After the vote on two deliberations that we consider essential because they relate to the development and sanitation of the city, but also to providing a space where the people of Dschang or those who come to Dschang are able to relax and work. We set out a series of conditions to enable us to make a choice. With regard to the municipal lake with all its components, namely the Museum of Civilisation and the nautical base, the trips we made enabled us to visit many sites and also to meet many Cameroonians who wanted to return to their homeland. So the fact that we met these Cameroonians who had this enthusiasm was already something essential. We met people in France, Belgium and Germany, but the choice of operator for the lake came firstly from the fact that he is a mayor (a former mayor of Grolet), secondly he is a financial and thirdly he is someone who was already advising the municipality on a number of activities relating to the economic model, such as the construction of the complex. At our last meeting with the operator who was interested in building the complex, it was in his offices that we spoke with this operator, and he showed an interest based on his experience. As you saw when he made his presentation, he outlined a number of points and I saw that people were amazed because he really knows what we want in this city. The terms of reference that we presented to him, once he agreed to carry them out, quickly and within a well-defined timeframe, should be visible within the next one to two months. Moreover, as he so aptly put it in his speech, the idea is that there will be a space where people can do a lot of things, and that by december the big activity will have started, when we know how many people there often are there in december, in conditions that are not very acceptable, but with no other choice. We figure we’ll be giving the people and tourists who come to Dschang a dream venue. With regard to the second operator, and still in line with the decision that had been taken because it was beginning to take time, waste collection is a serious concern for the Dschang Council, and we were delighted that after this choice, which was based on the capacity of the collection equipment (that’s the first thing), because we know that the difficulty of the territories today is the collection equipment. We lost a compaction lorry and the operator announced to us yesterday evening that there are already two compaction lorries available and that three others are going to arrive, as well as a collection facilitation machine; so we understand that the municipality now has the time to work on the issue of repairing our roads. We know as well as you do that if there’s a problem, it concerns these roads, so our two all-terrain trucks that we’ve been able to obtain will enable us not only to go further in the collection of materials, but above all to work on embankments. We know that our roads have this real problem of embankment, so they need to be recharged before we can see how to provide the necessary platforms. We’re happy today because the Municipal Council, which will be meeting soon, will realise that the decisions it had to take weren’t just documents filed away in drawers, and that things are actually underway. We’re interested in this at the executive level, which shows that we’re in line with the vision that was set out for the people of the city of Dschang, particularly in its first angle, which is sanitation. We are therefore very happy to be able to put into practice the will of the people, relayed by the Municipal Councillors and implemented by the Municipal Executive, and we believe that in the days to come, these people will have the opportunity to see that they were not mistaken, that they were right to believe in us and that we are moving in the direction they want for the city of Dschang to be this beautiful, green city, this city where it is pleasant and good to live. Dschang is now sold to the world and the missions of the Municipal Waste Management Agency (AMGeD) are regalian; this operator who comes is only there to work in a well circumscribed area (the central part of the city), Dschang simply not being the four square kilometres where we are. From intellexi onwards, things get more complicated, so our tricycles have to go deeper, and we need to feed our plant, which needs forty tonnes of waste a day, whereas we can’t even manage ten tonnes easily. So, while we would be looking for waste in areas where people also need to live cleanly, and to essentially supply the Ngui platform, these new machines brought in by an operator will increase the supply to the Siteu platform so that we can move towards profitability. The AMGeD remains an essential showcase for the Dschang Council, and the new machines will simply support the AMGeD’s work. The volume of waste and the level of cleanliness that this operator will provide will be the determining factor, because it’s clear in the terms of reference that it’s a matter of continuity, and the action that begins must endure over time, so that it lasts for years and only improves.
