| Original caption: “Africa. Cameroons. Giant cranes like these jutting up over the construction work on the Eda [sic] Dam have given Africa a new profile. They are a part of material and equipment amounting to fifty thousand dollars which has been purchased from America through the Marshall Plan. In the foreground other heavy equipment is excavating for the site of the three turbines, the first of which will be in operations before the middle of 1953.” The Fonds d’Investissements pour le Developpement Économique et Social (FIDES – “Investment Fund for Economic and Social Development”) took Funds from the Marshall Plan, enacted on April 3, 1948, and sought to make French Colonial Africa self-sustaining. $3,162,000 was invested in Cameroon in 1948 and $6,861,500 in 1949. Mush of this went to infrastructure – roads, railways, and modernization of the port of Douala. The village of Edéa was the scene of several battles during the Allied invasion of the German colony of Kamerun. During the 1st Battle of Edéa on October 20-26, 1914, a combined British-French force drove the Deutsches Heer (“Imperial German Army”) out of Edéa. A Heer attempt to reclaim it on January 5, 1915, was repelled by the French garrison. Another failed attack on British positions at Nkongsamba forced the Imperial German Army to go on the defensive. Cameroon became a French colony after World War I. After World War II, hydrologists identified the Sanaga River as an opportune location for hydroelectric power generation. Edéa was close to bauxite deposits. The village of World War I grew into a city of 122,300 by the 21st century as people came from all over Cameroon to work in the mines, grow and collect palm oil, and work in constructing and running Edéa Dam Power Station. A company known as “Energie Electrique du Cameroun (ENELCAM)” was created and assigned to develop the Edea I hydroelectric plant on the Sanaga River. Edéa Dam Power Station Number 1 was publicly opened on February 5, 1954. It is the oldest in Cameroon. This facility had 2 generators each making 11 megawatts. Edéa Dam Power Station Number 2 opened in 1958, with 6 generators of 20.8 megawatts each. A 3rd 11 megawatt generator was added to Number 1 at this time. 5 20.8 megawatt generators were added in Edéa Dam Power Station Number 3 in 1976. This was a total of 267 megawatts. ENELCAM was taken over by the state-run corporation “Electricité du Cameroon (EDC)” in 1973. The Edéa Dam, which had rarely been maintained since construction in 1953, showed significant structural weakness. The weir – the flood overflow gates – could not longer be assured to operate, degrading the power output of the hydroelectric plant. Applied Energy Services Corporation, a United States energy management firm, contracted with DSD NOELL Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung to build a new weir 6 meters downstream of the axis of the old dam, and 6 bridges to access the control system. This increased the plant’s capacity by 4 megawatts. Today, Edéa Dam generates a total of 274.6 megawatts. 60 percent of the power generated goes towards refining bauxite; virtually all the refined aluminum is shipped abroad. George W. A. Rodger (March 19, 1908 – July 24, 1995) was a British photojournalist. He was noted for photographing mass deaths at Bergen-Belsen Konzentrationslager during the end of the World War II and his work in Africa. In 1948-1949 he traveled from Cape Town to Cairo by road. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0681.jpg |
| Image Size | 834.99 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2385 x 2952 |
| Photographer | George W. A. Rodger |
| Photographer Title | Agency for International Development |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 1, 1949 |
| Location | |
| City | Edéa |
| State or Province | Littoral Region |
| Country | Cameroon |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NWDNS-286-ME-1(24) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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