(Ecofin Agency) - The West African Development Bank (BOAD) will grant a $14 million (FCFA7.4 billion) loan facility to the Société d’hôtellerie, de restauration, et de loisirs which is owned by Lebanese-Beninese business mogul Ghaby Kodeih, to build and operate Mariott Hotels & Resorts, a five-star hotel, in Cotonou. The related agreement was signed last Wednesday by the two parties. 

The infrastructure, which will have 202 rooms, five presidential suits including a high-standing suit, 150 fully furnished apartments, an ultramodern mall, will be located behind the Palais des Congrès of Cotonou. It will undoubtedly boost the country’s hospitality sector. 

According to local media,  the project will cost about FCFA50 billion. 

For his part, BOAD’s president, Christian Adovelandé, said “the project will be carried out in an appropriate environment, in line with the authorities’ ambition to insure the sustainable economic and social development of the country, via the Government’s Action Plan (PAG). More precisely, it falls under the country’s national tourism strategy which aims primarily, among others, to significantly improve the quality of hotel services”.     

“The loan which was just granted to the Société d’hôtellerie, de restauration, et de loisirs, brings to about FCFA746 billion BOAD’s commitments to Benin, including around FCFA88 billion for the private sector,” added Adovelandé. 

Fiacre E. Kakpo