Ondjiva – The Programme for Combat the Effects of Drought in the country’s southern region (PCESSA) will be taken further, said the Angolan president João Lourenço.
João Lourenço made the pledge at the end of his visit to the Calucuve dam works in Cunene province on Friday.
As for the commitment to combat the drought, the head of State added that the Executive did not show “signs of weakness not even moving away from executing the programme intended to deal with the constraints caused by the drought in the region.
PCESSA covers the provinces of Cunene, Namibe and Huíla. It focuses on the search for structural solutions to counteract the effects of drought on the lives of populations residing in these provinces, which have been devastated by the phenomenon for a long time.
President João Lourenço, who was speaking to the press, named Namibe province as one that will have projects of greater dimension and cost.
The intention is to retaining “rainwater from the plateau of Huíla province, in particular, and due to the lack of dams, this water has been lost in the Atlantic Ocean”, said João Lourenço.
He explained that the strategy involves taking advantage of the natural course of the waters, as well as benefiting the population, cattle, agriculture and, eventually, fisheries.
After praising the programme, João Lourenço did not rule out a phased mobilisation of financial resources for its full implementation.
“We are speaking to roughly 3 billion dollars”, he said, in a clear reference to the execution of the programme started with the construction of Canal do Cafu, an infrastructure that is benefiting 235,000 people, 250, 000 cattle.
The President recalled that in the same "package" there are other projects that include the construction of six large dams that have not yet started.
“We can say, without being afraid of making a mistake, that in the next four years we will have the programme completed”, said the Holder of the Executive Branch.
On the visits to various projects underway in the country's 18 provinces, João Lourenço said that they serve to implement the ideas that are outlined by the Executive.
The President encouraged the contractors and urged them to speed up the work a little more.
The President concluded saying that the country experienced 27 years of war. "Today we enjoy 21 years of peace", which were still not enough to rebuild what had been destroyed.” NE/AL/ADR/CF/NIC
