A Chinese group is going to build Angola’s first motorway, some 1,400 kilometres long, linking the south to the north of the country, the Angolan Minister of Public Works, Urbanism and Housing told Lusa today.
Carlos dos Santos said that during his visit to Macau, he had reached an agreement with the Chinese state company China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) to go ahead with the project.
“This motorway, which is around 1,400 kilometres long, will connect the southern part of Angola with neighbouring Namibia, to the northern part of Angola, with the Democratic Republic of Congo,” he explained.
Carlos dos Santos said that the infrastructure will extend from the southern province of Cunene to the north-western provinces of Zaire and Cabinda, which will be linked by a bridge.
CRBC will begin the studies “soon after” the formal signing of the memorandum of understanding, which will take place during the summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum in Beijing between 3 and 8 September, said the minister.
The Chinese group is expected to complete the studies and projects by the “middle or end of 2025”, a stage in which it will invest “around 50 to 75 million dollars” (between 47 and 70 million euros), explained Carlos dos Santos.
He said that only then will the two parties decide whether or not the investment, in a public-private partnership, will include a subsequent concession and the installation of tolls, “a modality in which the private sector assumes greater responsibility”.
Carlos dos Santos predicted “the start of the actual construction of the project at the end of 2025 or in 2026”, with the work estimated at “something like 2.5 billion dollars [2.33 billion euros]”.
The project “will be a development corridor” that will bring Angola closer to “related regions such as Southern Africa, Central Africa and North Africa” and leave Angolans “better prepared for the challenges that lie ahead,” the minister said.
Carlos dos Santos was speaking on the sidelines of the Forum of Portuguese Speaking Engineers, as part of the 15th International Forum on Investment and Infrastructure Construction, which ends today in Macau.
Source: Lusa
