Benguela – The provincial governor of Benguela, Manuel Nunes Júnior, challenged businesspeople on Tuesday to make the most of business opportunities in the salt value chain in the region, with a view to creating national wealth.
Manuel Nunes Júnior launched the challenge to businesspeople, in the municipality of Baía Farta, on the occasion of the beginning of construction of the caustic soda, sodium hypochlorite and hydrochloric acid factory, with a projected production capacity of more than 3,000 tons per month.
In the opinion of the governor, with this factory, an initiative of the Adérito Areias Group (AA), other business opportunities will open up for other entrepreneurs interested in being part of the salt value chain.
As I said, it is a chain that is being built and has several segments for other entrepreneurs to participate.
“This is just the beginning of the development of this great logistics chain that is being built”, he noted.
It also highlights the impact of the construction of the caustic soda, sodium hypochlorite and hydrochloric acid factory in Baía Farta, to develop the industry and diversify the national economy.
So much so that, according to the governor of Benguela, these products are now widely imported, with high costs for the country's balance of payments.
“Their production in our country will contribute to the reduction of these imports and, at the same time, will create many direct and other indirect jobs”, stated the official.
Therefore, it understands that these products derived from salt are of great importance not only for the development of the national industry, but also for the process of diversification of the national economy.
After elucidating the various applications of these three products in the production of detergents, paper and cellulose, pharmaceuticals, chemical and petrochemical industries, and water treatment, Manuel Nunes Júnior says that the factory will also contribute to the creation of national wealth, with the payment of taxes.
Basically, he added, the industrial enterprise is so important that “it will participate in the effort we are making to diversify our economy”.
Support for business
Given the countless economic potential of the province of Benguela, Manuel Nunes Júnior stated that the duty of governments is to create the conditions for concrete investment projects.
The challenge, he said, is to transform these potentials into projects that serve to improve the lives of citizens, creating national wealth, increasing employment and improving wages, especially for youth.
For this reason, he guaranteed that the Government of the Province of Benguela will spare no effort to ensure that all institutional support is given to this great initiative by the Adérito Areias Group.
For the governor, Grupo AA has been an important partner for the development of the region and an unquestionable reference in the business context of the province and in our country.
It is for this reason that he congratulated the project promoters, hoping that more initiatives like this emerge in the province of Benguela, for the development and well-being of the population.
About the factory
The construction of the factory should be completed within 18 months, in an area of five thousand square meters, with financing of around 27.3 million euros, of which 24.8 million euros will be supported by the credit line from Deutsche Bank of Germany.
In addition, the Adérito Areias Group (AA), promoter of the project, also spent more than three million dollars using its own funds.
Upon completion, the factory, which is expected to create 45 direct jobs and around a thousand indirect jobs, will have a daily production of 12 tons of caustic soda, 66 tons of sodium hypochlorite, commonly known as bleach, and 25 tons of hydrochloric acid. JH/CRB/DOJ
