Companies Request Extension of Free Zone Regime

Member companies of the National industrial free zone have requested government to extend the free zone regime in order to enable them benefit from its advantages. The companies also requested for the reimbursement of the valued added tax and that government should see into the currency shortage issue that renders them unable to pay for foreign supplies. The businessmen were speaking in a meeting with the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development that took place at the premises of the National Office of the Industrial free zone, ONZFI in Douala on Monday August 5. The business men also complained of bottlenecks with the customs department notable the 12 per cent tax for recycling companies while those of the cocoa sector complained about the law of 18 April 2013 which abrogates some of the advantages they had as member of the industrial free zone. Others had a problem of status as their companies have not yet been given the license to operate.
In response, the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Gabriel Dodo Ndoke promised to look into the issues that pertain to his ministerial department and to channel the other concerns to the concerned administrations for urgent solutions. He said the industrial free zone will continue despite changes in the nomenclature of the titular ministry or change of administrators saying he will seek to accompany enterprises during this transitional period while waiting for the extension of the free zone regime whose expiry has put some companies in diffic...