Lubango - Minister of Territory Administration Dionísio Manuel da Fonseca said none of the country's 164 municipalities has its own revenue and sufficient to meet local development needs, but pledged work to reverse the situation.
The minister said so at a press conference as part of the closing of the IX Forum and the IV edition of the Municipalities and Cities Fair (FMCA) held Monday in Lubango, southern Huila province.
The official underlined that the State is committed to reversing this reality, with the transfer of responsibilities to the municipalities.
The minister said administrative and financial autonomy is an ongoing process in the field of strengthening decentralisation, improving revenue collection.
But he acknowledged that it is still far from having truly autonomous municipalities that live on revenue.
“Potential exists and the work we are doing is to properly transform that same potential into reality. However, there is ongoing work,” he said.
As for the slogan “Life is made in municipalities”, Dionísio da Fonseca said that it has been a reality in all locations in the country, aimed to bring social services closer to citizens.
He said that the MAT has several challenges that entail the public policy programmes, focused on improving the basic social conditions of the populations.
The minister also said the government has an "ambitious" project focused on tourism, with emphasis on the Okavango Zambezi, where communication routes will be built, as well as the construction of boreholes for water and electricity.
The local governor of Huíla, Nuno Mahapi, also attended the press conference.
Delivering FMCA inaugural speech, minister Dionísio stated that the administrative decentralisation process increased municipal revenues from 3 million kwanzas in 2017 to more than 18 billion in 2022. JT/MS/NIC
