(Business in Cameroon) – Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute announced earlier this month that the government managed to build only 110 new housing units in 2024. These units were constructed in collaboration with local small and medium-sized enterprises in Mbanga Bakoko, Douala, and Olembé, Yaoundé.
This total is just 20% of the 550 units originally planned for the year. In November 2023, the Prime Minister presented this target to Parliament but did not provide details on how it would be achieved. Around the same time, Minister of Housing and Urban Development Célestine Ketcha Courtès mentioned plans to construct 175 units as part of a larger initiative to build 10,000 social housing units in partnership with the Italian firm Pizzarotti. However, in his latest address, the Prime Minister did not explain why the additional 440 units were not completed.
Although the 2024 target was missed, Joseph Dion Ngute revealed new plans for 2025. These include constructing 675 new housing units in collaboration with local businesses under the 10,000-unit social housing program. 200 units are also set to be constructed in Bamenda (Northwest) and Buea (Southwest) as part of the government’s Three-Year Emergency Plan for accelerating economic growth.
Cameroon is currently facing a severe housing shortage, with an estimated deficit of 2.5 million social housing units. In 2009, the government launched a program to address this gap by building 10,000 social housing units and developing 50,000 plots of land. As part of the pilot phase, the project aimed to construct 1,675 units. So far, nearly 2,000 units have been completed in cities like Yaoundé, Douala, Bafoussam, Limbe, Bamenda, and Sangmelima.
