In Cotonou, Benin’s largest city and economic capital located on the southern Atlantic coast, construction crews are busy building major projects, stretching from large-scale port upgrades to the asphalt-paving of the commercial hub’s main roads.

At the Autonomous Port of Cotonou, China Harbour Engineering Company is advancing Terminal 5, a project that involves reclaiming land from the sea and building two 100,000-tonne general purpose berths.

Beyond municipal upgrades, Chinese firms are building strategic corridors across the country. These include a 60km (37-mile) highway in the central region linking Savalou and Bante, built by China Road and Bridge Corporation, and a 184km “cotton road” running through the main cotton-producing belt in the far north near the Niger border.

The northern corridor is constructed by Sinohydro Corporation and backed by the China-supported Africa Growing Together Fund. The works form part of a broader multibillion-dollar modernising drive that has reshaped the country’s main commercial gateways over the last decade.

Following last Sunday’s swearing-in of the country’s new president, Romuald Wadagni, the former finance minister who won April’s election with over 94 per cent of the vote, Benin is banking on Chinese and other foreign investors to help fix its infrastructure gap and create value-adding industries.

Wadagni is a key architect of the nation’s recent economic reforms, having served as finance chief for a decade in former president Patrice Talon’s administration.