{"id":613434,"date":"2026-05-31T09:22:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T09:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/613434\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T09:22:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T09:22:32","slug":"how-china-will-play-a-major-role-in-benins-economic-growth-as-a-new-era-is-ushered-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/613434\/","title":{"rendered":"How China will play a major role in Benin\u2019s economic growth as a new era is ushered in"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Cotonou, Benin\u2019s largest city and economic capital located on the southern Atlantic coast, construction crews are busy <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3349734\/does-kenyan-rail-project-provide-model-chinese-and-western-firms-africa?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">building major projects<\/a>, stretching from large-scale port upgrades to the asphalt-paving of the commercial hub\u2019s main roads.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">At the Autonomous Port of Cotonou, China Harbour Engineering Company is advancing Terminal 5, a project that involves reclaiming land from the sea and building two 100,000-tonne general purpose berths.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Beyond municipal upgrades, Chinese firms are building strategic corridors across the country. These include a 60km (37-mile) highway in the central region linking Savalou and Bante, built by China Road and Bridge Corporation, and a 184km \u201ccotton road\u201d running through the main cotton-producing belt in the far north near the Niger border.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The northern corridor is constructed by Sinohydro Corporation and backed by the China-supported Africa Growing Together Fund. The works form part of a broader multibillion-dollar modernising drive that has reshaped the country\u2019s main commercial gateways over the last decade.<\/p>\n<p>Following last Sunday\u2019s swearing-in of the country\u2019s new president, Romuald Wadagni, the former finance minister who won April\u2019s election with over 94 per cent of the vote, Benin is banking on <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/science\/article\/3355160\/how-chinese-green-tech-and-investment-are-reshaping-central-asian-landscape?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Chinese and other foreign investors<\/a> to help fix its infrastructure gap and create value-adding industries.Wadagni is a key architect of the nation\u2019s recent <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3350292\/bye-bye-us-why-chinas-trade-africa-benefits-trumps-policy-volatility?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">economic reforms<\/a>, having served as finance chief for a decade in former president Patrice Talon\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Cotonou, Benin\u2019s largest city and economic capital located on the southern Atlantic coast, construction crews are busy&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[208700,208702,208705,208704,84,208699,208709,208698,208707,1294,208703,128451,208697,208706,208701,28111,56,54,55,208708],"class_list":["post-613434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-africa-growing-together-fund","tag-autonomous-port-of-cotonou","tag-beijing-summit-of-the-forum-on-china-africa-cooperation","tag-benin","tag-business","tag-china-harbour-engineering-company","tag-china-national-petroleum-corporation","tag-china-road-and-bridge-corporation","tag-cotonou","tag-economy","tag-export-import-bank-of-china","tag-niger","tag-romuald-wadagni","tag-seme-kpodji","tag-sinohydro-corporation","tag-south-china-morning-post","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wilfried-leandre-houngbedji"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}