Retrospective 2022: Samba Lucala Farm inauguration marks the year in Cuanza Norte

Ndalatando – The inauguration of the Samba Lucala Farm, located in Samba Cajú municipality, in November, marked the year 2022 in the economic sector in Cuanza Norte province.

The project set up with public capital, at an investment of US$54.6 million by the Angolan government, has a production capacity of 30,000 tons of soya, beans and maize per year.

The project implemented in an area of 11,000 hectares, is one of the most modern in the country in terms of agricultural technology and with conditions to contribute to promoting food self-sufficiency in Angola.

The farm has an irrigation system with 23 pivots, a dam to contain water of 450 cubic metres and 18 metres deep, a flooded area of 516,000 cubic metres, a pumping station with 2,800 cubic metres per hour and 33 kilometres of PVC pipes.

It is a project of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry that began to be implemented in 2016, which has so far allowed the creation of 64 direct jobs and 100 indirect jobs.

With this project, the government intends to transform the province of Cuanza Norte, in the corn and soybean triangle of the country’s northern region.

More villages electrified

In the social area, the inaugurations of the public lighting and electric power distribution systems in the municipal capital of Banga and in the villages of Kiboto, Lenvula and Kididi, in Bolongongo, and Kakiôngua I and II, in Quiculungo.

The systems were built as part of the Angolan government’s project to electrify 53 villages in the municipalities of Bolongongo, Banga and Ngonguembo, budgeted at 88.7 million euros.

In total, the systems includes 1,718 home connections, 850 of which in the Banga municipal headquarters and 250 in Kiboto, Lenvula, Kididi Kakiôngua I and II.

It also includes seven transformation posts (PT) of 250 kaviagens each, a low voltage network of 33 kilometres and a medium voltage transmission line of 40 kilometres, starting from the substation of Pambo de Sonhi, in the municipality of Samba Caju.

The systems also have 483 public lighting posts and are benefiting over 8,000 inhabitants of those localities.

Banga is the ninth of the province’s 10 municipalities to benefit from electricity produced from the Cambambe, Capanda and Laúca hydroelectric dams.

Also in the energy sector, it is worth mentioning the arrival of electric power from the public network, to the communal headquarters of Dange-ya-Menha, in Cambambe municipality, with the inauguration of the first phase of the electrification project of the circumscription.

The system comprises three 250 kVA Transformer Stations (PT), 131 public lighting posts and 275 home connections for the prepaid consumption system.

The 3,850 metre long network is connected to a 30 kilovolt (Kv) line, which links the Cafuma substation, in the city of Dondo, to the Lucala ll locality.

The second phase of the project included the electrification of the localities of Quiringo and Caxissa, and electrification work is under way in the villages of Cassua I and II, in Dange-ya-Menha, as well as in São Pedro da Quilemba.

BCI privatisation

In the field of banking, the closure of the branch of the Banco de Comércio e Indústria (BCI), in Ndalatando, the provincial capital, transferring the accounts domiciled there to the Malanje branch.

This measure followed the privatisation of the bank sold at 16.5 billion kwanzas, through an auction at Stock Exchange to Carrinho business group.

Source: Angola Press News Agency