"The United Arab Emirates (UAE) renewable energy company, Masdar, will invest approximately 2 billion dollars in the construction of photovoltaic plants in Angola, to develop two gigawatts of electricity," reads a government statement that VerAngola had access to.
Speaking this Thursday, after a meeting between José de Lima Massano, Minister of State for Economic Coordination, and UAE business delegations, Augusto Francisco, the company's general manager, explained that initially, 600 million dollars will be invested to build two plants in Huíla and one in Namibe.
"In the first phase, the company expects to invest 600 million dollars in the construction of the Quipungo and Chipindo plants in Huíla province, and the Tombwa plant in Namibe, to provide electricity to more than 250,000 families," the statement reads, recalling that "the concession contract for the Quipungo Photovoltaic Plant project was signed in 2023, on the sidelines of COP28, with a target date of supplying clean energy to 90,000 homes."
According to Augusto Francisco, "construction work on the Chipindo and Tombwa photovoltaic plants will begin next year and should be completed in the third quarter of 2027."
"We intend to sign the construction contracts for the 100-megawatt Chipindo Photovoltaic Plant, as well as the concession contract for the 250-megawatt Tombwa Plant, with construction expected to begin next year," he said, quoted in the statement.
These three projects are part of the government's goal of "increasing the country's electrification rate to over 50 percent by 2027."
Another piece of information released at the end of the meeting concerned the development of the urban plan in Futungo de Belas, which is being developed by the Emirati company Damac Properties.
"The city of Luanda will have a 151-hectare urban plan in Futungo de Belas, which is being developed by Damac Properties, one of the most prestigious real estate companies in the world, headquartered in the United Arab Emirates," reads another government statement that VerAngola had access to.
According to Paulo Cruz, the company's head of the African continent, the project is "70 percent complete, with all infrastructure built."
"We have completed the first phase. The project, as a whole, will have nearly four thousand units, including apartments, houses, retail areas, schools, healthcare facilities, and hotels. It is a mixed-use project for a Luanda real estate market that has been stagnant since 2018," he said, quoted in the statement.
