Exim Bank China will provide Benin a $270 million facility to develop the Adjarala hydropower dam. The Beninese council of ministers passed the financing agreements to the National Assembly to get approval for ratification.

The financing will come as a $59 million concessional loan to which will be combined a special buyer credit facility with a preferential rate worth $211 million. A buyer’s credit is a loan facility extended to an importer by an overseas bank (Exim Bank China in this case) to finance the purchase of capital goods or services and other big-ticket items usually from the country of origin of the lender.

The development of the Adjarala hydropower dam includes that of the dam itself, which has a capacity of 147 MW, in addition to irrigated spaces for fish and crop farming purposes. Electricity generated by the dam will be used by Benin and its neighbor Togo. Chinese firm Sinohydro will build the infrastructure.

Gwladys Johnson