Luanda – Angolan president João Lourenço has recommended the creation of a fund for maintenance of the new headquarters of the National Archives of Angola (ANA).
Inaugurated Saturday by the President of Republic, the infrastructure ushers in a new era in the scientific modernisation of the country's archival policy.
Speaking to the press, after inaugurating the USD 97 million project, Joao Lourenço said that the new structure needs a budget, "whether from the State General Budget or from other revenues".
According to the Head of State, with modern facilities, the country will be able to collect, select, disinfect and preserve documents, magazines, books, maps and art pieces with a greater guarantee of longevity.
The president considered it a gain for students, scholars and researchers from various branches of science, especially culture and history, "who have a space with excellent conditions to work".
"The investment made is very large and we need to preserve it", stressed the President of the Republic, adding that the use of the site must comply with criteria that afford the users to perform the activity.
The new structure, located in Camama, began to be built in 2008, in an area of four hectares and has 30,540 square metres of construction.
The new building of the National Archives of Angola, with five floors, houses 69 archive rooms, three exhibition rooms and nine training rooms, 39 offices, two laboratories, two auditoriums, among other facilities.
With an initial budget of USD 72 million, the work was increased with USD 25 million, aimed at inter-connection of the energy, water and final adjustments and equipment networks.
The building is part of the National Development Plan's agenda, which provides for the implementation of the National Archives System, among other objectives.
The infrastructure will allow the right accommodation of the existing documentation in the former premises of the National Archives of Angola, as well as the incorporation of the documents produced after 1975, by the Sovereign Bodies.
The archives will be transferred to the new facilities with the purpose of improving the conservation and quality of services, including the access of researchers and students to its collection.
The National Archives of Angola is a public institute with legal personality, administrative, financial and patrimonial autonomy, whose mission is to coordinate the national archival policy and to evaluate, collect, classify, preserve and divulge documents of archival and historical value.
Created under Decree No. 51/09 of 16 September 2009 of the Council of Ministers, the National Archives also has the functions of formulating general guidelines and supervising methodologically the functioning of the National Archive System.
Until its affirmation as an institution of the Angolan State, guarantor of the preservation of all archival heritage in the country, there has been a long history of reporting the changes that have taken place in the archives services over time.
In April 1977, the National Centre for Documentation and Historical Research was created, an institution that dealt with the problem of the Archives and, as such, inherited the entire collection of the then Historical Archives of Angola.
