João Lourenço was speaking at the end of the inauguration ceremony of the enterprise located in Lunda Sul province, which houses diamond cutting factories, built in 22 months, with an investment of 77 million dollars, plus 2.3 million dollars for the supervision of its execution.
The head of state said that the idea is to "expand this diamond cutting industry to other parts of the country, preferably to those regions that are diamond producers".
"In this way we intend not only to have a greater income from the diamond business, but above all to guarantee jobs for our youth," said Lourenço, who was pleased with the information that about 70 percent of the jobs will be filled by local youth.
"We can only be pleased with what we are seeing, an important development that was built in a period of less than two years. There are those who didn't believe, at the time, when the first stone was laid, that in 22 months we would be inaugurating this industrial complex", he emphasized, reminding that it is an evolving project, appealing to other interested investors to set up diamond cutting factories.
The Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino de Azevedo, said that a new stage is beginning in the expansion of the diamond value chain in Angola, noting that although the history of Angolan diamond exploration is secular, the first national cutting factory dates only from 2015, and there are already three factories in Luanda focused on this activity.
"The decision to build this enterprise was based on the objective contained in the National Development Plan 2018-2022, to increase the production of stones and precious metals and extend the value chain downstream," he said.
Diamantino de Azevedo stressed "the immeasurable financial effort" of Sodiam, a state-owned diamond trading company, with its own capital to make this project possible.
"Despite the situation of the covid-19 pandemic, it is our intention to continue to create conditions for the expansion of the value chain, focusing on the implementation of the new model for the commercialization of diamonds, effective and transparent, and on the promotion of the cutting and jewelry segment," he stressed.
According to the minister, the infrastructure, with an area of about 300 thousand square meters, has as its main objective to bring together companies focused on the diamond value chain, offering a physical and technological infrastructure suitable for the promotion and dynamization of the activity's development.
The undertaking comprises three main areas, namely a commercial one, with stores, restaurants, food courts, banks, tax offices, medical posts, offices, housing for workers and a convention center, and an industrial one, of restricted access, with reinforced security and composed of 26 lots of different sizes, destined for the implantation of factories and industries in the mining branch.
Diamantino de Azevedo pointed out that four factories have already been built, three of which were inaugurated this Friday, with capacity on site for the installation of a total of 26 units, in addition to facilities to accommodate all the services necessary for the proper functioning of the activity.
The last one is reserved for the hybrid solar and thermal power plant, to make the enterprise independent from the local grid, and a water collection, treatment, and distribution station.
A school factory for the training of diamond cutters and appraisers has also been built on the site, and training activities have already begun a few months ago in temporary facilities in Saurimo, the capital of Lunda Sul.
