Benin - Djougou-Pehunco-Banikoara Cotton Road Development Project

The Djougou-Pehunco-Banikoara Cotton Road Development Project is part of the actions aimed at making the cotton sector in Benin more dynamic and competitive. Indeed, this sector is one of the main providers of employment and plays a key role in the Beninese economy. However, the cotton-growing areas are landlocked, which severely hampers the transport and disposal of export products because the main roads serving them are not asphalted. The 209.68 km Djougou-Pehunco-Kérou-Banikoara road is the backbone of the cotton road network in the Donga, Atacora and Alibori departments. This road, which serves the country's largest cotton-producing region, is in very poor condition and offers little drainage capacity for national and international traffic. Travel speed is greatly reduced, aggravating mobility conditions on this route (10 hours of time for a heavy truck to cover the 209.68 km). The project aims to improve the level of service on this road, which carries a large proportion of heavy lorry traffic and is in very poor condition. Its implementation will have the following effects (i) a reduction in transport costs ; (ii) an increase in traffic on the route; (iii) the development of economic activities; (iv) improved production and marketing of agricultural products (maize, cassava, cotton, etc.) as well as the country's competitiveness; and finally (v) the improvement of the living conditions of the populations of the project direct influence area (PDIA). The total cost before tax and duty including physical and financial contingencies of the entire project is estimated at UA 162.06 million, i.e. CFAF 128,124.54 million or EUR 195.32 million. The implementation period is 4 years.