MOFCOM provides RMB 557 million grant for National Assembly Building Construction Project (Linked to Record ID#53477)

Project narrative

In November 2017, a fire significantly damaged Cameroon's main parliament building in Yaoundé. Then, on December 1, 2017, the Secretary General of Cameroon, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, and China's Vice Minister of Commerce, Yu Jianhua, discussed the construction of the new National Assembly building for Cameroon. At that time, the Chinese Government pledged to donate to RMB 400 million (34 billion FCFA) for the building's construction. China's Ministry of Commerce subsequently approved an RMB 557 million grant for the National Assembly Building Construction Project in 2019. The building was designed to cover an area of 37,500 square meters in the capital city of Yaoundé. The project scope included the construction of a 5-story complex with a 400-seat hemicycle, a celebration hall, an office building, a fireguard building, an equipment room, a janitorial building, and other functional rooms, as well as a plaza, roads, fountains, outdoor parking lot, fences and other auxiliary facilities. Beijing Urban Construction Group Co., Ltd. was the contractor responsible for project implementation. The project was originally scheduled to commence on November 28, 2019 and conclude 40 months later (March 28, 2023). Construction started, as planned, on November 28, 2019. However, a formal groundbreaking ceremony did not take place until December 12, 2019. Then, on November 30, 2024, the Chinese Government officially handed over the keys to the building to Cameroon's National Assembly Speaker Cavaye Yeguie Djibril at a ceremony. This project was a part of the “Ten Major Cooperation Plans” proposed by the Chinese Government.