{"id":8919,"date":"2026-10-16T12:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/?p=8919"},"modified":"2026-10-16T13:25:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T13:25:02","slug":"climate-change-delays-projects-kumba-city-mayor-implores-gevernment-extend-financial-year-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/?p=8919","title":{"rendered":"As Climate Change Delays Projects, Kumba City Mayor Implores Government to Extend Financial Year Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The City Mayor of Kumba, Gregory Ntemoyok Mewanu, has called on the government to extend the deadline for closing the 2026 financial year, arguing that persistent rainfall associated with climate change is slowing the execution of road projects and could prevent councils from completing planned works within the prescribed period.<\/p>

The City Mayor made the appeal on Thursday, October 15, 2026, during the Kumba City Council\u2019s mid-term session, where reports from the Council\u2019s committees highlighted progress made in infrastructure development and raised concerns over delays affecting some ongoing projects.<\/p>

Addressing City Councillors and administrative officials, including the second assistant Senior Divisional Officer for Meme, Mme Hermia Njonje, the City Mayor said the current weather conditions had made it difficult to undertake certain road works, particularly earth-road maintenance and the laying of paving blocks.<\/p>

The City Mayor explained that carrying out earth-road works during persistent rainfall could result in serious damage shortly after completion, undermining the Council\u2019s investment and exposing the administration to criticism from residents who expect visible improvements in their neighbourhoods.<\/p>

\u201cIf I come and do those roads now, as you\u2019re asking me, the same you will insult me. I mean, to the highest<\/i>,\u201d he remarked, explaining that freshly worked roads could deteriorate after a single evening of rainfall.<\/p>

The City Mayor said the challenge affected other infrastructure projects across the municipality, making it difficult for councils to meet the financial year\u2019s closing deadline while ensuring that public funds translated into durable and meaningful development.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Transmitting through the Senior Divisional Officer to the Ministry of Finance, with the participation of the Special Council Finance Controller, for consideration by the relevant authorities, he urged the authorities to consider extending the deadline in view of the weather-related setbacks confronting councils.<\/p>

\u201cPlease, Madam SDO, send our plea to the minister, the finance controller specialized also here, that they should extend, we should extend the closing down of the budgetary year<\/i>,\u201d he pleaded.<\/p>

He argued that the financial year\u2019s closure should take account of the realities facing councils, particularly when persistent rainfall prevents the execution of projects within the planned timeframe.<\/p>

\u201cIt should not be there to serve as a trap to our project, it should be there to accompany us, realize the project for our population<\/i>,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>

The appeal comes as the Kumba City Council intensifies efforts to consolidate infrastructure development across the municipality, with road improvement works forming a major component of its development programme.<\/p>

During the session, the Infrastructure Committee acknowledged delays affecting some projects but expressed satisfaction with the level of infrastructure development achieved under the City Mayor\u2019s leadership so far.<\/p>

Supplementary budget raises Council\u2019s 2026 budget to FCFA 7.9585 billion<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

The mid-term session also examined a supplementary budget of FCFA 658.5 million, submitted for the consideration and approval of City Councillors, bringing the Council\u2019s total 2026 budget from FCFA 7.3 billion to FCFA 7.9585 billion.<\/p>

Explaining the reasons behind the increase in an interview after the session, the City Mayor said the additional resources reflected new financing opportunities secured through engagements with the central administration, as well as the need to accommodate projects and financial obligations that had not been fully provided for in the initial budget.<\/p>

He explained that the Council had to pursue additional support beyond its usual internal revenue sources to finance development initiatives and meet outstanding commitments.<\/p>

The City Mayor attributed these opportunities partly to his administration\u2019s continued engagement with central government authorities, noting that councils must actively seek partnerships and funding rather than rely exclusively on resources available within their municipalities.<\/p>

\u201cOf course, we have to work in very close collaboration with the central administration that also continues to help us, to support us, to give us, sometimes why not, call it the Christmas envelope? or the Christmas gift?<\/i>\u201d he said.<\/p>

He added that some projects had been introduced or expanded, while other obligations requiring payment from the Council\u2019s internal revenue had not been adequately captured in the original budget.<\/p>

The supplementary budget, he explained, was necessary to ensure that these adjustments were handled through the appropriate legal and administrative procedures.<\/p>

\u201cWe had to make sure that we take a deliberation from our local parliament to make sure that it is validated by the counselors for that exercise to be carried out<\/i>,\u201d he said, stressing the importance of securing the Council\u2019s approval before proceeding with the proposed adjustments.<\/p>

The supplementary budget is therefore intended to accommodate emerging priorities, address financial and operational gaps identified during the initial implementation of the 2026 budget, and support the effective execution of the Council\u2019s development programme.<\/p>

Progress in roads and proposed agricultural investment<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

Reviewing the Council\u2019s achievements, the City Mayor in the course of his speech pointed to improvements in the municipal road network, citing works along Sonac Street, Lumumba Street, Lido and Mambungise streets, Endeley Street, the Tarven Junction\u2013Mukete Junction stretch, Alaska Street and ongoing works at Treasury Street.<\/p>

He acknowledged that further work remained to be done, including improvements to the CCAS Kumba road and the grading of other streets, but maintained that the progress recorded so far demonstrated the administration\u2019s continued commitment to improving mobility, connectivity and access across the municipality.<\/p>

The City Mayor also announced progress in preparations for a major agricultural industrialisation project estimated at FCFA 30 billion, which is expected to benefit Kumba and other beneficiary municipalities.<\/p>

According to him, preparatory discussions were already underway, with a technical delegation from the Special Council Support Fund for Mutual Assistance (FEICOM) expected to undertake field-level assessments as part of the process.<\/p>

The proposed initiative is expected to cover pig farming, poultry production and other complementary agribusiness activities, with the broader objectives of boosting agricultural productivity, strengthening value chains, creating employment opportunities and stimulating the local economy.<\/p>

The City Mayor expressed appreciation to President Paul Biya and the Prime Minister and Head of Government, Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, for their roles in advancing the development initiative, while expressing hope that the ongoing preparatory and validation processes would lead to its successful implementation.<\/p>

Social and environmental development<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

The Social and Education Committee, during its presentation, commended the City Mayor for the smooth organization and implementation of the Operation Keep Your Quarter Clean Competition, a community-based sanitation initiative that encourages residents to take responsibility for maintaining clean and healthy neighbourhoods.<\/p>

Now in its fifth edition, the competition has continued to mobilise Quarter Heads and residents around environmental cleanliness and improved waste management practices across Kumba.<\/p>

The City Mayor expressed appreciation to the participating quarters and the inspection team for their commitment to sustaining the initiative, noting that its impact was becoming increasingly visible in several parts of the municipality.<\/p>

He announced that the official results would be presented during the Council\u2019s budgetary session in December, when the performance of participating quarters would be formally assessed and recognised.<\/p>

The City Mayor\u2019s appeal for an extension of the financial year\u2019s closing deadline places the challenge before the relevant authorities, with the objective of ensuring that weather-related setbacks do not compromise the completion and quality of projects intended for the people of Kumba.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The City Mayor of Kumba, Gregory Ntemoyok Mewanu, has called on the government to extend the deadline for closing the 2026 financial year, arguing that persistent rainfall associated with climate change is slowing the execution of road projects and could prevent councils from completing planned works within the prescribed period. The City Mayor made the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8933,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[153,160,154,158,159,157,156,36,155],"class_list":["post-8919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-town-news","tag-climate-change","tag-deadline","tag-delays","tag-extend","tag-financial-year","tag-government","tag-implores","tag-kumba-city-mayor","tag-projects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8919"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8932,"href":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8919\/revisions\/8932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kumbacitycouncil.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}