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It is reported that the business areas of Chinese contractors are mainly concentrated in the transportation industry. Ten large projects in West Africa accounted for 72.8% of the region's total project value, and six of the ten projects involved transportation, shipping and port construction.

West Africa has 75 projects currently underway, with a total US dollar value of US$80.9bn. The region accounts for 16.6% of all projects in Africa and 16.3% of the continent's total project dollar value.

The number of projects in West Africa decreased by 28.6% from last year, while the value decreased by 2.4%. A number of small scale transportation projects were completed in the region, while at the same time large scale projects such as Nigeria’s US$18.0bn Centenary City were added.

Nigeria holds the largest number of projects in West Africa with 21 projects (28%), valued at US$54.2bn (67.1% in US dollar value terms).

Ghana follows Nigeria with 16 projects, valued at close to US$14bn. These two countries combined account for 49.3% of all projects in West Africa and 84.4% of the region’s total project value.

West Africa's 10 largest projects account for 72.8% of the region's total project value, with six of the 10 projects falling into the Transport and Shipping & Ports sectors. Nigeria's Century City – a real estate development – is the region's largest project by value at US$18bn, followed by Nigeria's Dangote Refinery at US$12bn. Six of the top 10 projects in West Africa are in Nigeria.

With a total of 33 projects, the Transport sector continues to have the largest number of projects in West Africa, representing 44% of total projects in the region. Projects in the Transport sector have a combined value of US$12.6bn (15.2% of the region’s total project value). The Energy & Power sector follows, accounting for 20% of all projects in West Africa, and 18% in value terms.

Despite the Real Estate sector accounting for only 16% of the number of projects in West Africa, large-scale industrial construction projects continue to keep the sector the most valuable in US dollar terms (27.6% of the region's total project value).