Catabola – Angolan president João Lourenço visited on Thursday the functioning of the Ceramic manufacturer and the Forest Seedling Production Center, located in the Chipeta commune, central Bié province.
Both projects are run by the Social Security Institute of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA).
Cerâmica Prémio da Paz has an installed capacity to produce 25,000 different bricks a day and 5,000 roof tiles, and expects to consume a total of 150 tons of clay.
It has two factories, one for bricks and the other for specialty bricks (to produce vaults and roof tiles), three kilns, two kilns, three rolling mills and a dryer/greenhouse.
According to José Daniel Cavinhanha, general manager of the ceramics factory, the factory was inaugurated in 2011, but came to a standstill in 2013 due to technical issues.
After due requalification, it is still operating on an experimental basis, with 125 workers, including two expatriates. Its final product is destined for Huambo, Cuando Cubango and Cuanza Sul provinces.
The Seedling Production Center, with the capacity to produce five million per year, came into operation in May 2022.
During the guided tour, the president was informed that, in the last two years, a total of 3.2 million seedlings have been planted, on 2,300 hectares, of the more than 10,000 hectares covered by the project.
The director-general of Reform and Reforestation, manager of the Seedling Center, João de Deus Tchipungo, said the trees served to repopulate the forest polygons in several communities.
Approximately 800 workers are involved in the projects in the provinces of Bié, Huambo, Cuanza Sul and Huíla, most of them recruited from local communities.
The acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment to facilitate the plant reproduction process and a commitment to staff training are the institution's main challenges.
Fábio Belo, head of the investment center of the FAA's Social Security Institute, explained that the investment in the seedling production center is budgeted at 500 million kwanzas, while the ceramics manufactory has been implemented through the application of six million US dollars./PLB/ART/TED/AMP
