Lobito - The Angolan government plans to build a 1,700-kilometre highway from the border with Namibia to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Minister of Public Works, Urbanism and Housing, Carlos Alberto dos Santos, said on Friday.
The minister made these statements in Lobito, at the end of a visit to verify infrastructures in the province of Benguela.
In addition to this one, there will be another one that goes west-east, with 1,350 km, which will reach the town of Jimbe, which borders Zambia.
“These are the two main axes that we are going to initiate, with the involvement of public-private partnerships, whose technical studies should begin now,” he said.
He also took the opportunity to announce that a plan for the recovery of road infrastructure has been approved, scheduled to start in 2024.
Among the roads, the intervention of the EN100 road and the EN250, which connects Benguela to Huambo, stands out, which, in his view, needs urgent intervention in some sections.
The minister promised to continue the maintenance and conservation of the roads that are part of the Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico axis, and are part of the Lobito Road Corridor.
Asked about the directed self-construction program, Carlos Alberto dos Santos said that the Government has a plan to transfer eight thousand lots by 2027.
According to him, the zones are already identified and the infrastructure will come over time.
“We will invest in directed self-construction where the private and the citizen will have their space and, together, can contribute to overcoming the housing deficit that is around 2.2 million inhabitants.
As for the residential clusters, he said that the State will no longer build any more.
“The state has built 350,000 units in residential clusters, urbanizations and social housing,” he said.
On social housing, he said it is the primary responsibility of the State itself, while everything that is to be sold, the private sector will have its space to build and sell. CT/CRB/DOJ
