€82m to be injected in Benin to work on drinking water, electrification projects

Beninese Parliament has given approval to the authorities for the 54 billion CFA francs (82.3 million euros) to support drinking water and electrification projects in Benin. Now the government can receive cash-flow from its partners for the implementation of developmental projects.

Investment and Development Bank ECOWAS (EBID) is supposed to provide a loan of around 21 billion CFA francs (32 million euros). It aims to finance the construction of 37 village water supplies in Benin and the strengthening and rehabilitation of 7 existing infrastructures, as reported by Afrik 21.

To accomplish the project of providing water to the households, the government of Benin has contemplated to rehabilitate and broaden the distribution network. Even the officers will reportedly be trained to have lucrative management of drinking water supplies. The project is estimated to provide support to some 224,000 inhabitants of diverse rural municipalities in Benin. The government will add 3 billion CFA francs (4.5 million euros) to this loan to finance all the work to be completed in 2021.

EBID is also providing a loan of CFAF 16,225 billion (about €25 million) to finance the electrification project in 100 rural areas. It is implemented by the Beninese Rural Electrification and Energy Management Agency (Aberme). On the other hand, the International Development Association will also inject 17 billion CFA francs (26 million euros) to connect part of the northern territory to the electricity grid.

This project is part of the West African Power Exchange System infrastructure programme backed by ECOWAS. The overall intention is to integrate national electricity grids into a unified regional electricity market.

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