Mbanza Kongo – The President of the MPLA announced Saturday in Mbanza Kongo the construction of two cities in the province of Zaire, to overcome the housing problem in the region.
The leader the ruling party was speaking at a mass political rally, which brought together around 100,000 people, among militants, sympathizers and friends of the party, ahead of the elections on 24 August.
João Lourenço said that the housing projects will be built in the capital city of Mbanza Kongo and in the municipality of Soyo, with 1500 residences each.
“There will be three thousand houses divided between two cities, the capital and the city of Soyo”, said President João Lourenço, assuring that the largest share of these homes will be allocated to young people.
Soyo Refinery
The MPLA leader also announced the construction of the Soyo Refinery, which will refine at least 100,000 barrels of oil a day.
“There are many refined products in large quantities that will come out of this refinery, not only for the country’s domestic consumption, but also for export, a fact that will reduce the import of refined products, saving foreign exchange,” he said.
President João Lourenço highlighted the importance of this project for the region, which will create many jobs, especially for the youth of Zaire, both in the construction and operational phases.
Fertilizer Factory
The province will also gain a fertilizer factory, whose foundation stone is scheduled for this month, according to President João Lourenço.
He explained that the factory, which will also provide employment, will partly solve the lack of fertilizers, which is already starting to happen on the international market, due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
João Lourenço, who is also the head of the Executive, highlighted the fact that the province of Zaire will be the first to have industrial production of fertilizers for the entire country.
He recalled that Zaire was also the first province to produce associated gas, through the LNG project located in Soyo, the associated gas processing plant (Liquefied).
New Airport
During his speech, President João Lourenço also spoke of progress of works on the new Nkiembe II Airport, 32 kilometers from the historic city of Mbanza Kongo, considered a cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO.
“Let’s work fast, I myself will monitor this work closely, I am in a hurry to see this dream come true. I will monitor very closely to see if at the end of 2024 we can see this airport open to international traffic”, he noted.
Zaire Hospital
The president also announced the resumption of works on the General Hospital of Zaire, to put it at the service of the populations.
He noted that, as Head of State, he has to make decisions looking at the country as a whole.
“Sometimes priorities arise that are attended to first, to the detriment of others, hence the fact that we have only now found the possibility of completing this important work”, he stressed.
He also spoke about the rehabilitation of roads in Zaire province, namely the Mbanza Kongo-Macumba, Nzeto-Soyo section, among others, as well as the integrated infrastructure project in Soyo.
The province of Zaire will also be able to count on the construction, from scratch, of a Higher Polytechnic Institute, according to President João Lourenço.
He appealed, in this context, to vote for his party for the implementation of all projects in the region and in the country.
He noted that during his government, which ends in September, major works were carried out for the benefit of the population, despite the negative impact caused by Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: Angola Press News Agency