(Business in Cameroon) – The Standards and Quality Agency, ANOR, and the National Civil Engineering Laboratory, LABOGENIE, have entered into a pact to address costly defects in Cameroon’s building sector. The partnership was signed in Yaounde on Monday, November 25. It aims to strengthen quality control across Cameroon’s construction materials and civil works. The agreement seeks to reduce economic losses linked to non-compliant building products, infrastructure failures, and costly safety incidents.
Under the convention, LABOGENIE will conduct comprehensive analyses on building and public works materials, including cement, iron rods, and bituminous products used in road construction. The laboratory will also handle calibrations of civil engineering equipment and evaluate emerging materials. It will provide ANOR with its full catalogue of testing parameters, costs, and execution deadlines, and must report damaged or insufficient samples within 48 hours.
ANOR will, in turn, submit all construction-related samples it collects to LABOGENIE and request the laboratory’s expertise for additional conformity assessments. The agency will also conduct annual inspections of LABOGENIE’s installations and procedures. Both institutions intend to align their testing methods with international standards and ensure that all bituminous products are approved before nationwide use.
It emerged from the signing ceremony that the convention follows repeated incidents of building degradation and concerns over substandard construction materials. Economic assessments referenced in the partnership indicate that companies adopting rigorous quality systems achieve an average 20% reduction in operational costs. The expected gains include lower expenditure on corrective works, fewer accident-related losses, and reduced environmental impacts, while improving client confidence and access to public markets with strict quality requirements.
Jean Mofo, Director-General of LABOGENIE, said the collaboration places responsibility on the laboratory to deliver tests that meet current standards and withstand any dispute or complaint arising from product suspensions for poor quality. He noted the sector’s sensitivity, where the degradation of buildings and improper installations often raises questions about the quality of materials in circulation.
Danielle Afane Ndongo Ebanda, Director of Conformity Assessment at ANOR, said the agreement strengthens an existing working relationship with LABOGENIE and will support faster and more credible control of locally manufactured and imported products. She stated that the partnership will allow rapid analysis once a denunciation is made, enabling swift market regulation and expanded checks across companies, markets, and incoming imports. The agreement aims to ensure that the State and consumers have access to safer, compliant, and durable construction materials and civil engineering works nationwide.
Mercy Fosoh
