The steering committee of the Central Africa backbone (Cab) project, during the first session held on March 23 in Brazzaville, adopted the work plan and the budget for fiscal year 2021 which amounts to 13 billion FCFA.
“In 2020, it was planned to spend 15 billion FCFA. In view of the health situation linked to the coronavirus, we have revised our spending downwards, six billion FCFA. With the budget that has just been adopted, we hope to finalize the work stopped, ” the Coordinator of the Cab project, Michel Ngakala said.
This is the completion of several projects that experienced disruptions last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, among others, the construction work of the Congo-Cameroon and Congo-Congo fibre optic interconnection network. RCA, then the pursuit of studies to promote the construction of the nation’s data centre and many other projects in the running.
Chairing the steering committee, the Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, Léon Juste Ibombo, was delighted with the results of last fiscal year which the project achieved …
Initially scheduled for June 2021, the end of the Cab project has been extended to the end of 2022 due to the slowdown in activities related to the coronavirus. Funded by the African Development Bank, the Cab project is designed to link the telecommunications networks of Cémac and ECCAS countries, boost the development of telecommunications by linking networks between African countries, increase the effectiveness of connectivity at the regional level, finally reduce the high costs of Internet on the business climate in the sub-region.
Recall that as part of the Cab project, Congo and Gabon celebrated in April 2018 the interconnection between the two countries. “From now on, we will no longer need to take international digital routes to collaborate between sisterly states. Digital exchanges will sharply increase. The digital divide between our border areas will be reduced and people will benefit from easier access to the digital world, more efficient and less expensive. We have accomplished this together and we can be proud of it “, rejoiced Léon Juste Ibombo.