Turkish firm to build Cameroon's largest sports complex

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AA) - A Turkish company is set to build Cameroon's biggest sports complex that will host 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, according to a local media report Thursday.

The Japoma sports complex will include a 50,000-seat stadium, a sports hall, an Olympic swimming pool, two training courts and tennis courts, the daily Cameroon Tribune said, adding 75% of the project would be financed by Turk Eximbank.

The complex has to be "delivered four months before the start of the African Cup of Nations ... which will take place in Cameroon in 2019, " Cameroon's economy minister, Louis-Paul Motaze said at the signing of the project financing agreement in Yaounde on Wednesday.

Turkish ambassador Murat Ulku said this would be the first time a Turkish company would be carrying out "a project of this scale."

"But we are not worried, since it has expertise," he added.

The complex will be constructed by Yenigun Construction, which said on its website that the contract for the project regarding the construction of Douala-Japoma Stadium was signed in December 2015 "as our first project in Cameroon".

The project will cost around USD240 million, according to Cameroon Tribune.