The Angolan President inaugurated on Thursday (15), in Bengo province, an electrolytic aluminium factory, an initial Chinese investment of 250 million US dollars that will create 1,200 jobs.
The project, installed on an area of 73 hectares, is located in the Barra do Dande Free Zone and began production on Thursday, with a daily capacity of 1,200 tonnes and expected annual revenues of more than 300 million dollars.
The project, which comprises five phases, foresees in its second phase an expansion to an annual production of 240,000 tonnes, supported by an additional investment of 500 million dollars (425.9 million euros).
Speaking to the press, the Angolan President expressed satisfaction with the launch of the project, which symbolises the achievement of the objective of attracting both national and foreign private investment.
“We are also beginning to build a path to diversify and increase export products. We are not satisfied with the fact that Angola exports almost exclusively crude oil, and still in its raw form,” he said.
João Lourenço lamented that Angola does not yet export refined petroleum products, only crude oil, “something that will also change very soon”, once the construction of the Lobito Refinery — which he visited this week — is completed.
“We need to process a large part of the raw materials extracted in our country or even imported, process them here, add value, create jobs and increase exports,” he stressed.
The Angolan Head of State noted that the export strategy is to encourage private investors to produce increasingly more exportable goods, not only for domestic consumption but also with acceptance in international markets, allowing the country to diversify its forms of “revenue collection in general and, very particularly, the collection of foreign currency”.
João Lourenço highlighted that Angola offers several incentives for private investment, namely the low cost of electricity for industrial users.
“So that they invest more, knowing that what they will pay for energy consumption is far below what is charged internationally. We have said that we have surplus energy; on the one hand we need to export it, but first of all we need to increase our energy consumption, and the best way is not through domestic consumption but through industrial consumption,” he emphasised.
For the aluminium industry in particular, he continued, energy consumption is high, but “for Angola this is not a problem”, as long as uninterrupted supply is ensured, especially by preventing vandalism.
In his remarks, the Minister of Industry and Trade said that the inauguration of the “Huatong” factory symbolises Angola’s process of economic transformation and industrialisation.
Rui Miguêns noted that the project is structured around two fundamental cycles: this first phase with an annual capacity of 120,000 tonnes of electrolytic aluminium, and a second phase that will double production to 240,000 tonnes per year.
“With this expansion, Angola will establish itself as a reference player in the regional metallurgical value chain, efficiently leveraging its energy and industrial resources, while also contributing to the continuous creation of qualified jobs and the training of our new generations,” he said.
According to the minister, the Angolan government is working to ensure that the industrial sector becomes the true engine of the economy, replacing imports with competitive national production.
Source: Lusa
