France-based construction company VINCI Energies has secured a contract to build electricity transmission and distribution infrastructures in Benin.
The €292m ($349m) contract was signed with Benin’s government and covers eight of the country’s 12 departments.
Go deeper with GlobalData
VINCI Energies will build 500km of extra-high and high voltage overhead and underground power lines, and more than 1,000km of medium and low voltage distribution networks and connections to several homes in the region.
The company will also build seven extra-high voltage transformer stations and add to the capacities of four existing high voltage power stations.
VINCI Energies’ French and Moroccan subsidiaries will train and transfer expertise to the local teams.
The project, which will be funded by French authorities, is expected to take three years and require more than 900 workers.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataIt is part of Benin’s Programme for Sustainable and Secure Access to Electrical Energy, which focuses on providing universal, secure and reliable access to electricity for the population and for industrial and strategic sites.
Upon completion, the project will meet residents’ energy requirements and contribute to the country’s socioeconomic development.
It will also supply electricity to several economic and industrial activity zones, including an airport, an administrative city, a hospital and several residential areas currently under development.
VINCI Energies chairman and CEO Arnaud Grison said: “In addition to our full mobilisation on the ground to ensure the technical success of this project, we have committed to training 300 young technicians while it is being completed.
“We are very happy to be embarking on this collaboration with the Benin authorities and with local communities, which will pave the way for a permanent foothold in Benin and will support the local economy with the jobs created. This is the basis of our company’s development model.”
Earlier this month, VINCI signed an agreement to acquire ACS’s energy business, which includes a 15GW renewables pipeline, for €4.2bn ($5.7bn).
