BENIN’S INFRASTRUCTURE: A CONTINENTAL PERSPECTIVE

**Table 16. Illustrative investment targets for infrastructure in Benin**

|**Sector**|**Economic target**|**Social target**|
|---|---|---|
|**Transport**|Achieve regional connectivity with good quality 2-lane<br>paved road and national connectivity with good<br>quality1-lane pavedroad|Provide rural road access to 32 percent of the highest-value<br>agricultural land, and urban road access within 500 meters|
|**Irrigation**|Develop additional 14,620 hectares of economically<br>viable small scale irrigation|n.a.|
|**WSS**|n.a.|Achieve Millennium Development Goals<br>Clear sector rehabilitation backlog|
|**Power**|Develop 4 MW of new generation capacity and 160<br>MW interconnectors (no-trade scenario)|Raise electrification to 50 percent (100 percent urban and<br>11 percent rural)|
|**ICT**|Install fiber optic links to neighboring capitals and<br>submarine cable|Provide universal access to GSM signal and public<br>broadband facilities|

_<u>Source</u>_ : Mayer and <u>others (2008); Rosnes and Vennemo (2009); Carruthers and others (2009); You and others (2009).</u> Meeting these illustrative infrastructure targets for Benin would cost around $700 million per year over a decade. Capital expenditure accounts for 60 percent of this requirement. Close to 70 percent of needs in the transport, water, and ICT sectors are for capital expenditures. In the power sector, by contrast, about 60 percent of spending needs are related to operation and maintenance of the existing system (table 17).

**Table 17. Infrastructure spending needs in Benin, 2006–15**

|US$ million per year|||
|---|---|---|
|**Sector**|**Capital expenditure**|**Operations and maintenance**<br>**Total needs**|
|Transport|79|37<br>116|
|Irrigation|11|nav<br>11|
|Water supply and sanitation|193|90<br>283|
|Power|92|130<br>222|
|ICT|59|22<br>81|
|Total|434|278<br>712|

_Source_ : Mayer and others (2008); Rosnes and Vennemo (2009); Carruthers and others (2009); You and others (2009). Derived from models available on-line at http://www.infrastructureafrica.org/aicd/tools/models.

The greatest spending needs are found in water and sanitation: It will take $283 million per year to meet the Millennium Development Goals in this sector. Power, with the second-highest needs, requires another $222 million per year (table 17). As of 2009 only 25 percent of the national population had access to electricity (53 percent in urban areas and 2 percent in rural areas). To achieve a national access rate of 50 percent, the country needs to expand its generation capacity by 76MW, refurbish 112 MW, and maintain the existing network.

Another $116 million per year are needed annually in the transport sector (table 17). Most of the spending needs are for roads ($91 million), particularly roads to achieve national connectivity and increase rural accessibility. Improvement of the condition of the railways is the major requirement within the rail sector. Similarly, improving the condition and expanding the capacity of the Port of Cotonou accounts for most of the spending needs in the port sector. Requirements for ICT amount to around $81 million a year. About $11 million in capital investment is needed for the development of irrigation (see table 17).

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