Cuito – The industrial and commercial sector in the province of Bié may see substantial improvements from 2024 onwards, as a result of the entry into operation of the Camacupa hydroelectric dam, located 82 kilometres east of the city of Cuito.

By Jilmar Enoque Chitondua, Claudete Ferreira and Adriano Chisselele, ANGOP journalists

Despite the 54 years of its existence and with 206,985 inhabitants, Camacupa is devoid of a robust industrial and commercial park, which further boosts the development of the region, especially in the creation of more jobs for the youth.

The government authorities of this community have created plots of land to implement an industrial and commercial park, as well as land to distribute to young people, within the framework of directed self-construction, as soon as the dam starts operating.

The hydroelectric dam, destroyed during the 1992 post-election armed conflict, was scheduled to start operating this December. Until 1992, it supplied energy to the municipalities of Catabola, Camacupa and Cuito.

The works, resumed in 2021, within the framework of the Integrated Intervention Plan in Municipalities, budget more than 16 million euros. They are under the supervision of the Ministry of Energy and Water.

This contract, the Camacupa Hydroelectric Dam, had been paralyzed since 2014, for financial reasons, a situation that was overcome with its registration in the PIIM.

At the moment, the works are in the final phase of physical execution and, after its completion, it will have a capacity of 1.8 megawatts, to cover the entire seat of the municipality of Camacupa and Catabola, thus ending the energy problem that is registered.

It also includes the construction of medium and low voltage networks and public lighting, with a 60-kilowatt transmission line, as well as the installation of three generator sets, which will produce about 1,500 kilowatts.

The dam, which was to be delivered to the population in March 2023, has seen some slight delay due to the late arrival of technical equipment in the country.  

According to the vice-governor of Bié, for the Technical and Infrastructure sector, Edgar Marcelino, with the entry into operation of the dam, the Government wants to solve the energy constraint, especially in Camacupa, to attract investors to the region.

The administrator of Camacupa, Deolinda Belvina Gonçalves, highlights the impact that this infrastructure will bring to the municipality, and assures that, in order to be supplied throughout the town and beyond, the Ministry of Energy and Water, in partnership with the provincial government, is installing another thermal power plant above 4 megawatts.

The idea, he said, is to make the municipality one of the most illuminated in Bié, as well as to reach as many residents as possible and contribute to the industrialization of Camacupa, in the shortest possible time, and attract investors.

Deolinda Belvina Gonçalves reassures, therefore, the populations that are waiting for the start of operation of this enterprise, since the municipality faces a deficit of both production and distribution to families.

The government entities intend to cover more than two thousand household connections in the region, and a project is being studied to asphalt the section connecting the municipal seat of Camacupa and the area of the Hydroelectric Dam, in a route of nine kilometers.

The construction of the dam has given employment to hundreds of young people, including António Jamba and Caley Cassinda, who were satisfied with the jobs acquired in the project, with which they are able to contribute to the livelihood of their families.

António Jamba, who has been working on the dam for two years, considers it gratifying to be making his contribution to the development of this part of the country, especially in improving the electrification of Camacupa.

Caley António Cassinda, team leader, points out the benefits that the project will bring to the local inhabitants, due to the fact that energy is now considered one of the catalysts for the progress of humanity.  

Interconnection with Laúca

The municipality of Camacupa, with nine thousand and 469 square kilometers, is made up of the communes of Ringoma, Muinha, Umpulo and Cuanza that are supplied by generator sets.

To change the current scenario, the Executive is betting on the construction of the Laúca energy transmission line, from the city of Cuito to the municipality of Camacupa, which could be completed within six months, according to the governor of the province of Bié, Pereira Alfredo.

According to Pereira Alfredo, the works were slightly delayed, due to the demining work that was carried out on the route, but that the placement of the concrete poles between Catabola and Camacupa is currently completed.

An initiative of the Ministry of Energy and Water, the project will also benefit the municipality of Catabola, which also has only one thermal power plant below two megawatts.

Pereira Alfredo, who does not give the level of physical and financial execution of this contract, only assures that the works are almost completed, and the technicians carry out the construction of substations, among other works.

To this end, the governor recently evaluated the works of the Catabola electrical substation that is being built in the vicinity of the 200 housing units, at an accelerated pace.

Meanwhile, the administrator of Camacupa, Deolinda Belvina Gonçalves, highlights the importance that the Executive gives to the municipality with the interconnection of another 30 kilowatts of energy from the Laúca Dam.

With this energy, combined with that of the Camacupa Dam, according to the administrator, it is intended to electrify the two largest large farms in the province located in the community, namely that of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), which is dedicated to the production of cereals, and Arrozal, which produces only rice.

In another sense, the governor of Bié clarifies that, as for the construction of the transport line from Cuito to the municipality of Nhârea, the works may start at any time. 

According to Pereira Alfredo, a public tender has already been held for this purpose, won by the company MCA, whose line will also benefit the municipalities of Cunhinga and Andulo.

With this, according to the governor, it is expected that the energy deficit in Catabola, Camacupa, Cunhinga, Andulo and Nhârea will be solved.

Laúca's energy has already benefited, for more than a year, the population of the commune of Chipeta, in Catabola, 25 kilometers east of Cuito, after being deprived for 35 years.

The project, where a 250 KVA Transformer Station (PT) and 140 public lighting poles were installed, covers 200 household connections, out of the 1,200 planned. 

Since March 2019, the province of Bié has received 80 megawatts from the Laúca Dam (Malanje), which joins 14 others produced at the thermal power plants of Huambo and Cuito, as well as two other generator sets. 

Laúca energy alone, for example, has made it possible to install 80 megawatts in Cuito, when the demand is only 20 MW, helping the Ministry of Energy and Water to carry out the process of interconnecting the municipalities of Bié, in the short term.

To this end, the technicians of the sector have been committed to the removal of the old expansion network, made before 1975, since it is obsolete, thus replacing it with the low and high voltage network, in order to benefit a greater number of consumers.   

Regarding the city of Cuito, as an illustration, more than 12 thousand new families benefited from this asset, with the expansion of the low and medium voltage network.

These connections are located in the Catemo, Ndôngua, Boavista and Licimo neighborhoods, on the outskirts of the city of Cuito, as part of the project to expand the medium and low voltage distribution network. 

It also installed, in the capital of Biéna, more than 500 public lighting poles (concrete and wood), with a view to reducing the crime rate in those neighborhoods, at a cost of 300 million Kz, within the scope of the PIIM. 

In 2021 alone, three thousand 379 new families in Cuito, Camacupa, Chinguar and Chitembo started to consume electricity, under the Neighborhood Electrification Program.

The local government is also making new connections and plans to continue the electrification not only of the neighborhoods of the city of Cuito, but also throughout the interior of Bié, in partnership with the Ministry of Energy and Water.

This year, it also delivered the 1.6-megawatt thermal power plant in the municipality of Cuemba, located 162 kilometers east of Cuito, which is guaranteeing public lighting and 1,500 new household connections.

Also in 2022, the Government formalized the delivery, in the municipality of Chitembo, of a new thermal power plant of more than a thousand KVA, which also benefits more than 1,500 families, despite further extensions in the residences of the municipality.

The distribution network controlled by the National Electricity Distribution Company (ENDE) has, in this part of the country, 26,14 customers, 16 percent of which with the metering system and 2,666 customers under the prepaid regime.   

Of the 26,000 customers, 23,306 are low-voltage customers, and 2,666 are prepaid customers. JEC/COF/AC/VM/DOJ