China's Exim Bank and Ivory Coast have signed a loan deal worth 48.4 billion CFA francs ($91.48 million) to finance water infrastructure work in Abidjan, the West African nation said on Wednesday.

 

Ivory Coast, French-speaking West Africa's largest economy and the world's top cocoa grower, is recovering from a decade-long political crisis and is seeking to renew long-neglected critical infrastructure.

 

Many neighbourhoods in the commercial capital Abidjan, a city of around five million inhabitants, do not have access to running water.

 

"The government's objective is to ensure that the city of Abidjan no longer has any water problems," government spokesman Bruno Kone said following a cabinet meeting during which ministers ratified the loan deal.

 

Kone said the loan agreed with the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China last month was "semi-concessional" but declined to give further details.