These are the shortfalls that the Cameroonian state real estate agent has recorded from 1994 to date.
“In 30 years we have estimated the loss at around 90 billion that the State is bearing . It must be admitted that in other Nations, the State has completely disengaged but here (in Cameroon), the magnanimity of the Head of State means that these accommodations are always at the lowest cost to provide accommodation. We do a quarter of what is done in the private sector. If we pay 200,000 CFA francs elsewhere, at the SIC it is 50,000 CFA francs and at the same time, 25,000 CFA francs for civil servants. Since 1994, the Head of State has authorized civil servants to be accommodated at 50%. So, a housing cost of 50,000 CFA francs, a civil servant pays 25,000 CFA francs, you see that this leads to under-exploitation at the SIC, a shortfall in earnings,” lamented Ahmadou Sardaouna, the Director General of the Cameroon Real Estate Company ( SIC), during an interview on CRTV national station on March 16, 2024.
After the devaluation of the FCFA at the beginning of the 1990s, prices on rent issues were homologated by the Cameroonian State. Although civil servants pay 50% of the rent, the fact remains that at the level of the company responsible for managing the real estate sector, there are still losses. However, the Technical Commission for the Rehabilitation of Public Establishments (CTR) had made two proposals, namely: an increase in rental prices in order to cover the operating costs of the SIC and subsidies for maintaining operations. But, it is not only a question of the derisory fact on rents because according to the General Director of the SIC “the Head of State said to keep the status where it is the SIC which pays the Value Added Tax ( VAT). We lose around 500 million CFA francs in VAT per year. That is to say, 300 million principal plus 200 million CFA francs in penalties, that gives us 500 million to pay from our own resources to pay and remit on the tax level.
