Continuing the SBEE Network Restructuring and Extension Project (National Operator) in the urban commune of Abomey-Calavi and 81 villages in the Atlantic Department, IED has recently been entrusted with a project management mission for the electrification of the lakeside city of Ganvié, on the north shore of Lake Nokoué, at the mouth of the Sô River in southern Benin  (north of Cotonou). Regarding its relatively large size, it is often described in literature as "THE Lakeside African Metropolis".  Because of its specificity and its numerous inhabitants, it constitutes a space of challenges, which the Government of Benin wished to meet: transport and waste management,  sustainable reconstruction of domestic dwellings, redevelopment of economic and social life spaces. And these living conditions improvements do obviously require access to electricity!

The first part of this new project is consisting for IED to carry out the studies prior to the concrete electrification work:

• Detailed pre-Projects of 22 lakeside or semi-lakeside communities,
• Environmental and Social Impact study and Environmental and Social Management Plan of the area, in partnership with the BRLi study office,
• Social intermediation activities allowing the addressing (including geo-referencing) of potential customers and their electricity network connection costs payments via mobile money, in partnership with the 2 mobile operators in Benin.

The so special topography of the lakeside city of Ganvié, the African "Venice", makes the exercise quite complex  and demanding, but exciting !