Cazombo - After 107 years of geographical and cultural connection, the province of Moxico-Leste officially dismembered, this Monday, from the current territory of Moxico, becoming an autonomous region, in search of development and social progress.
By Teotônio Chilambavo, ANGOP journalist
With more than 300,000 inhabitants, the new province is located in the far east of Angola and is close to 1,700 kilometers from the country's capital, Luanda.
It is bordered to the north by the province of Lunda-Sul, to the west and south by the province of Moxico, and to the east by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia.
Moxico-Leste has Cazombo as its capital, located in the southwestern part of the province, and is currently one of the few provincial capitals in the country to establish a border with a neighboring country, in this case Zambia, along with Dundo (Lunda-Norte), Mbanza Congo (Zaire) and Cabinda, which border the DRC.
Moxico-Leste has nine municipalities, namely Cainda, Cameia, Cazombo, Lago Dilolo, Lóvua do Zambeze, Luacano, Luau and Nana Candandundo, inhabited mostly by a population that has agriculture as its main occupation, carved in the production of cassava, corn, rice, peanuts, sweet potatoes, potatoes, beans, vegetables and citrus fruits.
Data show that the regions that make up this province produce, annually, more than 500 thousand tons of products.
In addition to agriculture, Moxico-Leste has other potential, especially the mining sector, which already has copper prospecting work underway, an action carried out by Anglo American, a British company, in the region of Calunda.
In tourism, the new province has one of the biggest attractions in the east of the country, Lake Dilolo, with an altitude of 1098 meters above average sea level, being the largest in Angola and the third on the African continent.
Located in the municipality of Luacano, at the southern end of the Lobito Corridor, this giant space is a true paradise, open for exploration.
The Cameia National Park, in the municipality of the same name, west of the provincial capital (Cazombo), is another attractive spot, home to lions, spotted hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, hippos, potamocheros, sable and songs, as well as water resources such as the Zambezi River and the Kasai Falls.
In terms of infrastructure, Moxico-Leste has a modern airport, with a runway 2,600 meters long and 45 meters wide, located 10 kilometers from the village of Luau, with an airport for 70 passengers at boarding and disembarking time.
In this municipality, a cross-border logistics platform is being implemented, which will have structuring services to support industrial units that it expects to contribute to the rapid socio-economic development of the region.
Education and health
The new administrative center is struggling with a lack of classrooms. More than 30,000 children were left out of the school system in the current school year due to lack of infrastructure.
In addition to general education schools, the new province is devoid of a higher education institution, to allow students in the second cycle to continue their academic training.
The province has a general hospital in the municipality of Luau, with a capacity for 100 beds and several specialized services, which will be able to serve the populations of the other municipalities in the region.
The unit is equipped with stomatology, gynecology, medium complexity obstetrics, neonatology, neonatal and adult intensive care, ophthalmology and orthopedics services.
It has a laboratory, hemotherapy, conventional imaging (X-ray) and ultrasounds, physiotherapy, sterilization, pharmacy, laundry, kitchen, cafeteria, morgue, incinerator, oxygen factory and other support services, provided by more than 361 professionals.
Despite this infrastructure, the province will have the challenge of expanding more units to provide primary care to other municipalities.
The construction of definitive roads and bridges to allow the interconnection of the municipalities that make up the province, in order to facilitate circulation is one of the biggest challenges of Moxico-Leste.
The completion of the construction of the National Road 250 (EN250), on the March 25/Cazombo section, on a route of approximately 200 kilometers is the greatest desire of the inhabitants.
Moxico-Leste is part of the three new provinces of Angola, which emerged under the new Political-Administrative Division (DPA), approved on August 14, 2024, by the National Assembly.
The other two are Icolo and Bengo and Cubango, which resulted from the distribution made, respectively, to the provinces of Luanda and Cuando-Cubango.
With the implementation of the new DPA, the country now has 21 provinces, 326 municipalities and 378 communes, with Luanda preserving the status of capital of the country. TC/YD/DOJ
