China Eximbank agrees in principle to provide $488.7 million buyer’s credit loan for Glo Djigbé International Airport Construction Project

Between March 22 and 24, 2019, China Eximbank sent a pre-loan investigation group to Benin. The group's main objective was to continue financial negotiations with the Government of Benin regarding the Glo Djigbé International Airport Construction Project. According to the Government of Benin's 2019 Bond Prospectus, China Eximbank was expected to provide a loan to the Government of Benin for the airport project (p. 69). According to a 2019 YCIH Report, the purpose of the China Eximbank loan was to cover 70% of the total project cost (p. 4). The total project cost is unclear. The Government of Benin’s 2019 Bond Prospectus puts it at $964 million, but its 2021 Bond Prospectus puts it at 600 million. Another Government of Benin source claims that the the total cost of the project is $705.7 million, with the Government of Benin contributing $217 million and China Eximbank financing the remainder ($488.7 million). Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding (YCIH) , a private company, is expected to create a joint venture to operate this airport and sign a design-build-finance-operate-maintain (DBFOM) concession agreement with the Ministry of Finance of Benin. The purpose of this project is to construct a new international airport in Glo Djigbé and replace the Cardinal-Bernardin-Gantin Airport. A 40 km expressway will also be built as part of the project. The expressway will connect the airport to the fishing road with, at Cocotomey, a crossing of the national interstate road 1 going from the Togolese border to the Nigerian border via Cotonou, Porto-Novo and Ouidah. China Airport Construction Group Corporation (CACC) (state-owned enterprise), Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), and Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding (YCIH) (private) are expected to complete the EPC works. ADP Group (Aéroport de Paris Ingénierie) is expected supervise the EPC work. Preliminary (pre-construction) works commenced on March 10, 2017. Construction was originally expected to begin in 2019 and end in 2022. China Eximbank reportedly authorized the loan for the project on May 18, 2021 China Eximbank officials conducted an on-site inspection in March 2022. However, later in 2022, the Government of Benin decided to postpone works on Glo Djigbé to prioritize Cotonou Airport.

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 贝宁格鲁-吉贝新国际机场项目 or 贝宁新国际机场项目 or 宁格鲁·吉贝新国际机场项目. The French project title is CONSTRUCTION DE L’AÉROPORT INTERNATIONAL DE GLO-DJIGBÉ or Aéroport International de Glo-Djigbé. 2. According to a 2022 IMF report, "a first contract, concerning the international airport of Glo-Djigbé, is about to be concluded. This contract, initially identified as a PPP mobilizes both public capital and Chinese private capital. However, the [IMF] mission does not have detailed information on this project.”

Number of official sources

15

Number of total sources

34