(President Patrice Talon’s vision for excellent and fast work in progress)
The government of Benin handed over the site to the Séquence CMM group on Tuesday, December 13, 2022 for the construction of infrastructure at the National University of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (UNSTIM). In order to ensure the quality of the work and the respect of the contractual deadlines, the Chargé de mission of the president Patrice Talon and Member of the Board of Governance of the AATB (Group of the Islamic Development Bank), Dr Zul-Kifl Salami initiated a technical meeting with stakeholders including the Séquence CMM group and the Agency for the construction of infrastructure in the education sector (ACISE). The overall financing granted by BADEA to UNSTIM and the National Agricultural University (UNA) amounts to about 23 billion FCFA.
FALCO VIGNON
Construction work on several infrastructures on the UNSTIM site in Abomey has really started and will be completed in about 14 months. Indeed, after the technical meeting followed by the site visit, the delegation led by Minister of State Dr Zul-Kifl Salami agreed with the Sequence CMM group in charge of the work that the announced 15-month deadline will be strictly respected. According to the Head of State’s project manager, it is very important that the work of this project should stand out as much for its quality as for its speed. What Dr. Zul-Kifl Salami explained to the participants of this technical meeting: “So it is important for us to succeed in this project, which will still be, whether we like it or not, a milestone in our cooperation with BADEA.
If BADEA has decided to finance the education sector and particularly technical and vocational education in Benin, it is because the authorities of BADEA have taken the measure of the role of education, in particular technical education and development professional. If we succeed in correctly executing the projects financed by BADEA, it is obvious that we will register as pioneers in the archives of BADEA, which will be completely willing to accompany us more and more always in the sector of higher education, technical and professional, because they absolutely want there to be examples, what we call success stories that somewhat justify their own intervention strategies”. The participants in this meeting came from Acise and Sequence CMM. On behalf of Acise, there was the Technical Director Prudence CAKPOSSE, the C/PAUU Léon SEZAN and the project manager Edmond DAVAKAN.
As for the Séquence CMM group, it was represented by project manager Maurice Houéssou and Clément Ahouandjinou. The rector’s team of the UNSTIM of Abomey was composed, on this occasion, of the rector, Pr Joachim GBENOU, the rector’s council composed of the vice-rector in charge of academic affairs, Edmond Codjo Adjovi, the vice-rector in charge of cooperation Thierry GODJO, Secretary General Alexandrine HOUINATO and Assistant Accountant Pachelie AKPLO.
UNSTIM has more than 4,700 students spread over four sites in Benin. The infrastructure construction project on all Unstim sites is 91.5% funded by BADEA, ie 23 billion FCFA jointly with the UNA and 8.5% by the national budget. It should be noted that the infrastructures on the site of the UNSTIM of Abomey will extend over 20% of the domain which is 30 hectares with a cost of realization of 9 billion 70 million FCFA. The infrastructure on the Abomey site includes: rectorate (offices, meeting rooms and outbuilding); UNSTIM block (educational block, library, computer room, administrative block); dormitory (R+3 for students with a capacity of 300 beds); restaurant for students; Infirmary ; ancillary premises (two gatehouses: one main and one secondary); technical local ; paved roads and green spaces; car parks (covered and uncovered), etc.
Dr Zul-Kifl Salami, project manager of the President of the Republic, popularizes the vision of President Patrice Talon for excellent and rapid work
The president’s project manager Patrice Talon provided information on the merits of this technical meeting. “I wanted to come here, after the site was handed over, to see how the project really took off. This project is funded by BADEA as you know. It is therefore important to pay a vibrant tribute to this international institution which brings real added value to our development by being the pioneer in the financing of technical and vocational education in Benin. As you know, BADEA finances Enset which is already almost finished… BADEA also finances the Institute of Mathematics and Sciences of Dangbo, the National University of Agriculture and finally Unstim, the list is long” , he specified.
For him, “this is also the time to pay a vibrant tribute to the Head of State, His Excellency Patrice Talon for the relevance of his vision in the education sector and more particularly in the sub-sector of technical and vocational training. . Indeed, through the training of engineers, supervisors, senior technicians and other specialized workers, technical and vocational training promotes economic growth, and beyond that, socio-economic development in general. This correlation eloquently underlines the validity of the vision set out by the Head of State. Investors, particularly in industry, agribusiness and the digital economy, need this critical mass of human resources to settle in our country. This shows all the importance and all the scope of this educational infrastructure that constitutes the National University of Sciences, Technologies, Engineering and Mathematics”.
The rector of the UNSTIM of Abomey took the opportunity of this working session to inform the delegation led by the Minister of State Dr Zul-Kifl Salami on the readiness of the rector’s council to fully play its part in the process of construction of these infrastructures. “We are very happy with the working session. We thank you, Mr. Head of Mission and ask you to convey our sincere thanks to the Head of State, His Excellency President Patrice Talon without forgetting the executives of Acise for the commendable work they are doing. We promise you, my rector’s council and I, to follow the progress of the work day by day and to inform the Acise in case it is appropriate if we notice that something is wrong. We will ensure that the workers of the Séquence CMM group do not miss anything and are in the best conditions and above all that the work progresses quickly and that the infrastructures are delivered on time”, informed Pr Joachim GBENOU. Following him, the representative of the Séquence CMM group reassured the participants of their commitment to respect the terms of their contract. “We know the value of this project for Benin and the government, in particular its highly social character. We are committed to working hard to not only respect the contractual deadline but also to build quality infrastructures as we always do… We will not fail because we rely on our expertise and our experience which are no longer to be proven for satisfy you… Thank you, Mr. Head of State’s representative. We would like you to reassure the Head of State and BADEA that the infrastructure we are building will live up to their expectations both in terms of quality and execution time,” said Maurice Houessou.
“We are reassured by the unfailing commitment made by the company CMM/Séquence in charge of the works. Finally, we reassure His Excellency the President of the Republic that, on the strength of the updated schedule, the construction works will be carried out at a brisk pace for a conclusion in 15 months to the great satisfaction of BADEA, co-financier of the Project alongside the Government”, said he added.
