Angola now has an industrial complex with the capacity to assemble up to 1,000 buses and 22,000 light vehicles per year – electric and hybrid. The infrastructure was inaugurated on Tuesday (20) in Luanda – in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) – by the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano.
The industrial unit, an investment by the Opaia Group, which did not disclose figures, initially employed 1,500 young Angolans and marks the beginning of a new chapter for the automotive industry and the country’s economy, said the president of the business group, Agostinho Kapaia.
The vehicle assembly plant “symbolizes the state’s commitment to industrialization and innovation,” said the businessman, also ensuring that the project has advanced production lines with responsible and environmentally sustainable industrial practices.
José de Lima Massano spent a long time visiting the complex, receiving explanations about how it works and even test-driving one of the buses assembled by Opaia Motors.
“We have had experiences in the past that were not very successful, with starts followed immediately by stops. What we have here gives us the feeling of being something more structured, starting with the fact that national investors, from a technological point of view, have found leading partners for the various segments of the automotive industry they intend to develop,” said the minister.
Massano also highlighted the jobs created: in the first phase, there are 1,500, and an expansion to around 3,500 workers is expected, with the minister emphasizing that this is a national workforce, mostly young people.
The Minister of State for Economic Coordination of Angola said he had also verified the potential of the equipment being assembled at the factory, noting that the model of vehicles that the promoters intend to develop has great potential for integrating locally produced components.
“We saw, for example, the buses, which will be able to have seats and flooring made here in Angola, and we will also be doing this integration and we think that the way it is designed is an integrated solution that also gives us this perspective of sustainability in the medium and long term,” he said, stressing that the Executive will continue to promote local production and initiatives.
Transport Minister Ricardo de Abreu considered that the industrial project reflects a strategic decision of productive sovereignty, ensuring that it will provide the country with the internal capacity to manufacture and assemble means of ensuring collective mobility.
For the minister, the growing pressure on the transport sector, “resulting from population growth, urban expansion, and the intensity of daily commutes,” cannot be solved solely through planning or the occasional acquisition of fleets.
“It can be resolved with productive capacity installed in the country, with continuity of supply and with a national value chain that sustains this capacity over time,” he stressed, concluding that local production of motor vehicles, starting with the assembly of buses, light vehicles, and commercial vehicles, “responds exactly to this logic.”
Source: Lusa
