Boskalis wins €55m coastal protection contract in West Africa

Boskalis, a Dutch dredging and heavylift company, has won a contract worth around €55 million to protect the eroded Togo and Benin coastline and build an innovative sand engine concept for replenishment of beach.

The work is for a coastline of over 40kms long spanning from the eastern coastline of Togo to the western coastline of Benin. A part of the West African Coastal Areas Management (WACA) program, the coastal protection project to Boskalis was awarded by the Togo and Benin governments.

Financing for the coastal protection project is covered by the World Bank. The project will begin immediately and is likely to be wrapped up late 2023.

According to Boskalis, the present coastline has been hit by considerable erosion, which has led to coastal retreat, thereby presenting a threat to important infrastructure and the livelihoods of the locals.

Under the coastal protection project, the Dutch dredging and heavylift company will be responsible for constructing 15 new groins while refurbishing six existing groins.

Boskalis will also undertake beach replenishment work using over a million cubic meters of sand.

On the Benin side of the border, a sand engine with a volume of 6.4 million cubic meter will be built. The sand engine concept was jointly developed by Boskalis and over the past decade, is said to have been applied successfully in the Netherlands.

The Dutch dredging and heavylift company said that a huge volume of sand will be deposited at a location strategically so that over time, the natural motion of wind, currents, and waves will blow it eastwards along the coastline.