The leader of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), in a speech lasting more than two hours to a great human frame, spoke of new projects and the continuity of others, initiated in the last five years of his mandate.
"Number eight came to score goals", said João Lourenço, referring to the MPLA's position number in the ballot, promising to run the country during the campaign.
João Lourenço said that Luanda was the province chosen for the official start of the electoral campaign, which will last for the next 30 days, as it is the largest urban center in the country and consequently the largest political square in Angola, stressing that the Angolan capital has a population that is higher than that of many countries in Europe, Africa and other parts of the world.
With concern for social projects, the leader of the MPLA and head of the party's list of candidates for the elections admitted that Luanda, with around ten million inhabitants, has "many problems to solve, which is absolutely normal".
"But we are not regretting that, because we have many problems to solve in this great city of Luanda, on the contrary, when we accepted the challenge in 2017, we accepted to face all the problems that affect the lives of our citizens, no matter what. city, in which village, in which village they live", he said.
For the capital, João Lourenço promised to solve problems of mobility, basic sanitation, health, energy, water, education, among others.
According to the MPLA candidate, the number of public buses will be increased, adding about 700 to the more than 800 vehicles, "very soon", stressing that the number remains insufficient, so it is necessary to introduce other transport modules.
"The good news is that next week we are going to introduce the social pass, which will make life easier in terms of urban transport for our students, our war veterans, the physically handicapped, the elderly and other so-called vulnerable groups, who deserve special treatment whenever they need to make use of public services, particularly public transport," he announced.
Also with regard to mobility, João Lourenço said that a self-propelled train will start operating, also in the coming days, to connect Luanda and Catete.
The project to build a surface meter, announced by the Government before the mandate that João Lourenço now ends, was mentioned by the MPLA candidate, informing that negotiations are underway with the financiers to put the means of transport that will connect the city of kilamba, in the south of the capital, to the Port of Luanda.
João Lourenço highlighted the inauguration, in April of next year, of the new Luanda António Agostinho Neto international airport, as well as the construction of an airport city in the new infrastructure area, appealing to the private sector to invest, also expressing concern to improve access to that area, with the opening of a second Luanda ring road, to connect the northern part, Cacuaco and Catete, and the southern part, Luanda Sul.
In the health sector, João Lourenço mentioned the hospitals built in the last five years and the construction of new hospitals in the rest of the country, rejoicing with the end of a problem he encountered when he took over the country's destiny in terms of hemodialysis centers.
For the housing area, João Lourenço announced the delivery in Luanda, at the end of this month, of some buildings for young people, promised some time ago, with the reason for the delay being their vandalism.
"Unfortunately, we have citizens without civility, who do not think about the collective, unfortunately, through them we also have instigators of vandalism, because these buildings were vandalized, they were left without doors, without windows, without sanitary ware and the State had to invest twice", criticized.
Regarding employment, "essential for the people and for the youth", the MPLA candidate for President of the Republic highlighted the executive's efforts to create a business environment favorable to job creation, stating that many jobs are being created in Luanda and "just don't see those who don't want to".
The MPLA leader expressed confidence in the victory, "not only" for what he has been doing for five years, recognizing that the party "has been in power for many years" and that "from term to term it has been improving its governance, it has been solving more and more and fulfilling what Agostinho Neto (Angola's first President) taught: the most important thing is to solve the people's problems".
João Lourenço announced the end of the campaign in Luanda, "to give checkmate" to his opponents, ending his intervention.
However, he returned to the public, apologizing and for his attention, to present the MPLA candidate to the Vice President of the Republic, Esperança Costa, "a woman" with whom he counts to help in the enterprise ".
