Ondjiva – China Ambassador to Angola, Gong Tao, on Thursday highlighted the importance of the Cunene River Water Transfer System, in the Cafu region for agricultural practices and fighting drought in the communities.
Speaking to the press, at the end of a visit to check the operation of the pumping centre of the Cafu canal, Gong Tao acknowledged that the construction of the water pumping system was a huge project carried out by the Angolan government to benefit the population.
The diplomat said that the investment was of great importance to tackle the drought that has plagued the southern region of the country for many years, which will now secure water supply for the population and animals.
The diplomat suggested that the 160-kilometre-long canal should be exploited, particularly for irrigation agriculture, to aid the socio-economic development of the province.
"With this visit of mine to Cunene Province and the Cafu project, our side will continue to work with the Angolan government to develop more projects of this nature within the framework of good relations", the Chinese ambassador said.
Gong Tao said that the fight against drought could be one of the priority areas and that the two parties could tackle together in the future, as well as identify new areas of cooperation when necessary.
Gong Tao added these sorts of relations and technological capabilities that Chinese companies are demonstrating can support and contribute even more to Angola's modernisation for its socio-economic development.
The secretary of State for Water, Manuel Quintino, on his turn, said the water supply system of the Cafu canal was currently operating with a pump with a capacity of 1 cubic metre per second.
Quintino noted that construction of the Ndue and Calucuve dams was currently underway, but that their physical execution was not very advanced as expected, since financial aid is needed to allow the projects to move forward in line with each other.
The Cafu canal was inaugurated in April this year by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, it comprises a system to collect and transfer water from the Cunene River to several villages, via a 160-kilometre-long canal.
