Luanda – The upcoming facelift works on Muxima village, in Luanda Province’s Municipality of Quiçama aims essentially at improving the living conditions of the local population and boosting tourism activity.
This fact was highlighted by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, when he spoke to the press on Tuesday, after having laid the first stone of the works for the rehabilitation of the Muxima village, which includes the construction of a Catholic sanctuary.
President Lourenço stressed that this is a great project that includes the sanctuary, much modern with the new cathedral.
João Lourenço said it is a very ambitious project that will give another quality of life to the inhabitants of the Muxima village and will make the Catholic faithful to make their pilgrimages to the site in better conditions.
“This is not only a gesture towards the church, but also towards the City of Luanda, as it will attract national and international tourism for incoming revenues”, stressed the president.
On his turn, Cardinal Dom Alexandre do Nascimento, 97, who was present as well, was in charge of blessing the work, in the presence of government officials, the Apostolic Nuncio, Monsignor Giovanni Gaspari, and bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Angola and Sao Tome (CEAST).
The refurbishment project also includes construction of a medical centre, local administration, the National Police Command, school, community centre, clergy building, allotment area for family residences and a camping field in Muxima which is 130 kilometres off Luanda City.
The facelift of Muxima village - which will be implemented over an area of 90 hectares, 40 hectares of which in this first phase - includes the construction of infrastructures for housing and commercial areas, a power station and drinking and waste water treatment.
The project will also have around 114,000 square metres of road areas, with an average width of 10 metres, and around ten to twelve kilometres of new and rehabilited roads, parking for 3,000 light vehicles and around 50,000 square metres of landscape.
The future Sanctuary of Our Lady of Muxima also known as Basilica of Our Lady of Muxima, to be built in an area of 18,000 square metres, will have capacity to accommodate at least 4,600 seated people, a public square with capacity for 200,000 devotees and another 5,000 inside the sanctuary.
The Head of State, João Lourenço, ordered through dispatches in 2018, the redevelopment of the village and the Muxima Sanctuary, with a total budget of over 91.6 billion kwanzas.
The Muxima Sanctuary is the biggest Catholic worship centre in Angola, and it annually hosts a pilgrimage of thousands of christians.
Located on the banks of the Kwanza river, in Quiçama Municipality, in the province of Luanda, the area was occupied by the Portuguese in 1589 who, ten years later, built a fortress and the Church of Our Lady of Conception, also known as “Mamã Muxima”.
