Chinese Government provides RMB 124 million grant for Cotonou Friendship Stadium Renovation Project (Linked to Record ID#59367)

Project narrative

On March 30, 2016, the Chinese Government and the Government of Benin signed an agreement for Cotonou Friendship Stadium Renovation Project. China’s Ministry of Commerce provided an RMB 124 million grant for this project. The Cotonou Friendship Stadium (Stade de l’Amitie or 克雷库友谊体育场), which was later renamed Mathieu Kérékou Friendship Stadium (Stade de l'Amitié Mathieu Kérékou), was first constructed in 1982 with RMB 60 million of funding from the Chinese Government. The stadium includes over 35,000 seats, a 1500-seat Olympic-size pool, a three-story hotel, a sports hall seating 5000 seats, and a tennis court. This project involves the maintenance and replacement of the stadium’s track and field area and runway area, stadium cables, etc., new press conference system, fire protection and generator equipment rooms, additional maintenance of the rental area under the east stand of the stadium, and maintenance and unblocking of all drainage pipe networks in the sports center. The work will be undertaken in stages, and suspended temporarily prior to the March 24, 2019 Africa Cup Nations qualifier, so that the football game can be carried out. The 23rd Metallurgical Construction Group Co., Ltd. of Minmetals was the contractor responsible for implementation. The handover ceremony for the start of construction work took place on November 2, 2018. Then, on November 23, 2018, Ambassador Peng Jingtao inspected the site of the maintenance project along with Wu Weiquan, the project management team leader of the China Southwest Design Institute of Architecture, and Xiang Shiyin, the technical team leader of the 23rd Metallurgical Construction Group Co., Ltd. of Minmetals. The planned date of completion was November 11, 2020. On September 9, 2020, a completion ceremony was held in Cotonou, and on July 1, 2021, the stadium was officially handed over to Beninese officials. According to a Xinhua article, the Chinese Government has assisted Benin in the management and maintenance of the Friendship Stadium and has performed partial maintenance of the stadium multiple times for more than 20 years (see Record ID#59367 for the 2002 renovation).