Angola’s government moved on two separate fronts on Thursday, with two ministers of state conducting field visits to flagship investment projects — one focused on agro-industrial development in the southern province of Huíla, the other on the progress of the Quilonga Grande water project near Luanda, one of the largest infrastructure investments in the country’s water sector.
The Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano, travelled to Huíla province on a working visit centred on monitoring structural projects under government-led development programmes.
According to the visit’s programme, Massano met with the Huíla Provincial Government to assess the status of projects under the Integrated Municipal Intervention Plan (PIIM) and the Public Investment Programme (PIP). His agenda also included an inspection of a site where an industrial facility for the preservation and freezing of fruit is being installed — an initiative designed to strengthen the agri-food sector’s value chain.
In the municipality of Chibia, located approximately 50 kilometres south of Lubango city, Massano officially inaugurated the seed processing and beneficiation plant of Jardins da Yoba. The visit programme also included tours of Quavi, a company dedicated to pork production and slaughter, and STI Melat Agropecuária, a specialist in milk production and dairy products.
The field trip forms part of the government’s strategy of closely monitoring the implementation of investments with a tangible impact on economic development, industrialisation and job creation in Huíla province — an agenda that underpins Angola’s broader drive to diversify its economy by developing agro-industrial productive chains across different regions of the country.
Also on Thursday, the Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, conducted an inspection visit to the Quilonga Grande Project construction site to assess the degree of completion of the works and monitor compliance with the phased construction schedule across the project’s various lots.
The visit was attended by the governor of Luanda province, Luís Nunes, the governor of Icolo e Bengo province, Auzílio Jacob, the Secretary of State for Water, António Belsa da Costa, as well as senior officials from the Ministry of Energy and Water, state water utility EPAL, supervisory bodies and contractor companies. During the site inspection, the delegation examined the principal technical challenges still facing project completion.
According to the Ministry of Energy and Water, the Quilonga Grande Project will have the capacity to produce 518,000 cubic metres of water per day once operational, benefiting approximately five million residents across Luanda and Icolo e Bengo provinces. The infrastructure also encompasses a distribution network of roughly 3,500 kilometres and around 170,000 household connections, significantly reinforcing potable water supply to both provinces.
The two concurrent government field visits — conducted simultaneously at opposite ends of the country — reflect the direct oversight approach that the Angolan executive has sought to embed in the execution of its principal public investment programmes, from agro-industrial development in the south to the expansion of water supply infrastructure in and around the capital.
Through these visits, the government reaffirmed its commitment to broadening access to essential services, improving living standards and promoting sustainable economic development across Angola’s regions, aligning on-the-ground supervision with the targets set out in its public investment plans.
Source: Mercado / Original article: https://mercado.co.ao/executivo-no-terreno-ministros-acompanham-investimentos-na-huila-e-nas-aguas-de-luanda/
