Luanda - The north-central province of Cuanza-Norte has registered, in recent years, several improvements in some sectors, despite the challenges that still deserve special attention, concluded the meeting that the Head of State, João Lourenço, held on Wednesday with the local government.
According to the final communiqué of the act, the information provided by the Governor of the Province, João Gaspar Diogo, shows that in the field of Education, it has 4,848 teachers, 203 schools, 185 of which are from the public network and 16 from the public-private network, making a total of 2,024 classrooms available.
In this sector, he reported that an increase of 122 classrooms is expected when 14 schools under construction are completed, within the scope of the Integrated Municipal Intervention Program (PIIM).
Still in this area, in the current academic year, there were a total of 160,147 students enrolled in all subsystems and levels of education.
Regarding the School Lunch Program, João Gaspar Diogo informed that a total of about 360 million kwanzas was budgeted in the current economic year, destined for students in the various primary schools, whose expenses was over 66,000 kwanzas, corresponding to 18.33%, benefiting around 18,886 students.
Health
Regarding health, with the inauguration by the President of the Republic of the Cuanza-Norte General Hospital named Mário Pinto de Andrade, the province now has 14 hospitals, 15 health centers, 102 health posts and six mother and child centers.
In a total of 137 health units, 135 are public, of which 90 have the complete package of essential medicines.
As for health professionals, from 2018 to 2024, the province benefited from 2,516 new professionals, including 176 doctors, 1,403 nurses, 643 diagnostic and therapeutic technicians, 217 hospital support technicians, 68 general regime technicians and nine social workers, thus recording an increase in the number of health professionals of around 64.8%
Higher Education
The province has three institutions, two public and one private, which enrolled a total of 5,103 students in the current academic year.
The execution of the Project for the design, construction and equipment of the N'Dalatando Higher Polytechnic Institute, authorized by Presidential Order no. Decree-Law No. 121/23, of June 7, is also in progress, which aims to provide the institution with equipment and laboratories for technical courses, a library, a modern amphitheater, a sports area and a boarding school with capacity for 500 students.
Social Protection
During the meeting, in which members of the central government participated, governor João Diogo Gaspar informed that the province has control of three integrated social action centers, two of which are from scratch (Cambambe and Cazengo) and one adapted in Quiculungo.
In the scope of the “Kwenda” Social Monetary Transfer Program, 43,890 families were registered at provincial level, focusing on seven municipalities, namely Ambaca, Banga, Cambambe, Golungo Alto, Ngonguembo, Quiculungo and Samba Cajú.
Agriculture and Forests
The governor revealed that 38,129.5 hectares of land were prepared, 34,259.5 of which manually and 3,870 mechanized, in a universe of 29,282 assisted peasant families, with a production in the order of 637,658.3 tons of various products, in light of the 2023/2024 Campaign Agricultural.
He added that previous agricultural campaign provided 45,678 direct jobs and 228,390 indirect jobs
Still in this regard, the province controls 195 associations and 127 cooperatives, 142 of which are legal.
As for field schools, 835 schools are planned for five municipalities, due to 167 field schools in each district.
Currently, there are 186 field schools in the province, with 104 facilitators, 429 members of the management committee and 29 agricultural technicians recruited to support the projects.
Industry and Commerce
The province has 176 industrial units, of which ten are large and 166 are small and medium-sized industries, with 2,050 producers registered in the National Production Plan, where the cultivation of fruits, roots and tubers is most prominent.
In the field of Tourism, Cuanza-Norte has potential for the development of ecotourism, as it is bathed by large rivers, such as the Kwanza, Lucala and Nzenza.
It has potential for cultural tourism, the exploitation of which may have a greater impact on aspects of an ethno-linguistic nature, given that its population is quite heterogeneous and characterized by a rich and varied cultural mosaic.
In relation to mineral resources, 38 mineral exploration companies were registered, of which 14 are operational and 24 are non-operational.
It has a great potential for unexploited ore, namely gold, diamond, iron, manganese, marble, nickel, quartz, zircon, limestone, copper, granites (with different shades and cores), mica, clay (white, yellow, red and black ), talc, kaolin, sand, mineral water, basalt, burgau, biotite, among others.
In the field of Transport, it has a fleet of 69 buses, allocated by the Ministry of Transport, within the scope of the goverment program for the expansion of urban passenger transport, 55 of which have already been delivered to 44 operators, during the period 2020-2022.
For the remaining 14 services allocated at the end of 2023, the process of assigning them to operators is underway.
The province has a modern, rehabilitated and equipped airport, called Comandante Nguetu, located approximately seven kilometers from the city of N’Dalatando, with a runway 2,000 meters long and 30 meters wide, reserved for small and medium-sized planes.
In the field of road infrastructure, the construction of a ring road for the city of N’Dalatando is planned, with a view to reducing various constraints that occur with the passage of the national road within it.
The meeting was the last activity that President João Lourenço carried out during his two-day working visit to Cuanza Norte.
ART/MRA/jmc
