Cafunfo: with a road where not even trucks pass, entrepreneurs ask for solutions

Entrepreneurs thus join the approximately 170,000 residents of Cafunfo, the mining town of Luanda Norte where, on January 30, 2021, several people lost their lives during a demonstration, in complaints about the lack of infrastructure that aggravates poverty. extreme region, despite being one of the richest in the country due to the abundance of diamonds.

At the top of the dissatisfaction is the absence of a road worthy of the name, which, despite promises, continues to be lacking, being one of the reasons that led to last year's protest, mobilized by the Lunda Tchokwe Protectorate Movement, whose leader, among other participants is currently being tried in the court of the district of Chitato, in Dundo (capital of Luanda Norte).

Ângela Moisés, a fresh marketer, explained to Lusa how bringing the products, essentially coming from Benguela, Namibe or Luanda, to that hard-to-reach location, became a real adventure.

"It's hard, it's really suffering," he says. "The truck drivers do not accept to come here and if they have to come [they charge] a slightly higher margin, the freight is higher because of the road, the road is terrible", he explains.

When it rains, "no truck passes" and the town is isolated, which can take up to a week, "until the ground dries up". And there are even those who refuse to come, stresses Ângela Moisés.

It takes at least 12 hours to cross the 700 kilometers of distance between the capital, Luanda, and Cafunfo, with the final stretch, between the town of Minas Gerais and the municipality of Cuango, about 40 kilometers long, the most arduous.

The public road is nothing more than a potholed and practically impassable path, divided by ravines, where only motorcycles circulate. Alternatively, residents and visitors have only the road that crosses the Cuango mining concession, subject to time restrictions and limitations.

The local government says that the rehabilitation of the road is in progress, but for the inhabitants of Cafunfo there are still promises. "We are waiting for them to give us a solution. We haven't seen anything concrete yet", says Ângela Moisés.

Totally dependent on generators for energy, traders also point to fuel costs, together with the scarcity and irregularity of supply, among the difficulties they face, like Rosa Teixeira, owner of an inn and restaurant.

"We use our generators and there are times when the hostel is without power because we don't have fuel," she laments.

When it arrives at the pumps, "it's a struggle" to buy, says Rosa Teixeira, noting that the fuel is also transported in trucks and these don't always arrive. Along the route, rusty bodies of trucks transporting goods, overturned here and there and abandoned, attest to the obstacles of the journey.

"The national road doesn't exist, it only has a ravine. We want, at least, that the road is fixed, we want water, we want energy, school, hospitals, that's all we want", she asks.

Bento Pedro, son of the land and owner of an inn, corroborates this. "Thinking about investing here was not easy, it took love for the country to make such an investment", he says, stressing that the difficulties are "enormous" due to the lack of infrastructure.

The residence, with more than 20 rooms, is completely self-supplied, depending on a generator for electricity and its own water collection.

"I did my collection to draw water here, and it wasn't cheap. And you can't imagine my electricity consumption here. I have three generators and daily I have to spend almost 150,000 kwanzas just to keep the house lit, it's a serious problem" , regrets.

Bento Pedro also talks about the complexity of accessing the products he needs, from furniture to food.

"Sometimes, even with the money, we can't find the product, because of the roads. There are serious difficulties for trucks to reach Cafunfo. ', and when the products arrive, they come at a very high price", says the businessman.

"But with our difficulties we are in Cafunfo. Without problems, with problems, we are here", continues Bento Pedro, appealing for the intervention of the authorities to improve the situation, which would also make new investments in the locality possible.