Chibia - The vice-president of the State Administration and Local Government Commission of the National Assembly, Paulo de Carvalho, expressed, on Thursday, in Chibia, Huíla province, concern about the lack of allocation of revenue from ornamental rocks in favor of the municipalities where they are extracted.
The province of Huíla contributes 90 percent of the country's ornamental rocks, but the allocation of its revenue, in taxes, does not directly benefit the communities.
Currently, the revenues collected through fees for ornamental rocks are all sent to the National Treasury, the National Mineral Resources Agency, the Geological Institute of Angola and the Workers' Social Security Fund of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, leaving aside the provincial government and its communities.
When summarizing the visit made to the municipality, the parliamentarian stated that the ornamental stone companies installed in Chibia have contributed “enormously” to the country's economy, and that the ideal is for the municipality to also benefit from the revenue collected.
“We are going to take the concern that there will be some return of this participation to the municipality”, he stated.
He highlighted that the fact that companies in the municipality are operating is important not only to grow the economy, but also to guarantee jobs, especially for young people.
On the other hand, he considered that the projects carried out within the framework of the Integrated Plan for Intervention in Municipalities (PIIM) have quality and benefited priority sectors such as education and health, with minimum services for the population.
“We leave here with a good impression and there are some examples that other municipalities can collect and copy from here. We found that despite the few resources, the authorities have sought to solve the communities' problems and there has been concern about school inclusion, an important aspect”, he reinforced.
In 2023, 189,141.8 m³ of rocks were produced in Huíla, representing an increase of 14,926.4 m³. Of this quantity, 88,894.7 cubic meters were exported, 58,924.6 fewer than last year.
The export of 88,894.7 cubic meters of ornamental rocks produced yielded the Angolan State 389 million, 353 thousand, 387 kwanzas. MS/MS/DOJ
