Camwater Smart/Prepaid Water Metering Program

In 2020 Camwater promised 3,000 smart meters for Yaounde and Douala. A year later, press asked where they'd gone. In 2026 it tried again with a ~1 billion FCFA tender — still no confirmed count installed.

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,167 documented projects · 🏙️ Yaoundé city profile · 💧 Water guide · 🌱 Environment projects

Camwater, Cameroon's public water utility, has pursued smart/prepaid water metering for its Yaoundé and Douala networks since 2020, when it ran a restricted international tender and presented a pilot phase covering 3,000 meters split between the two cities — aimed at replacing manual meter reading with phone- or card-based prepaid recharging to cut billing disputes and revenue losses. A 2021 press report questioned whether the pilot had stalled, and no source confirms how many meters were actually installed in Yaoundé from that round. In June-July 2026 Camwater issued a new international tender (budget ~1 billion FCFA, financed through the Ministry of Water and Energy's Public Investment Budget under the PFORR IMPACT program) for supply, installation and commissioning of an intelligent metering system, with a 200-day implementation window after award.