Carlos dos Santos presented this Tuesday the progress of the integrated requalification works in the city of Sumbe, capital of Cuanza Sul, as part of the two-day working visit that the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, made to that region of the country.
According to the minister, the works, which have so far reached a physical completion rate of 60 percent, began in 2009, with the implementation of the integrated infrastructure program for the city of Sumbe.
The minister stressed that the priority at the time was paving roads, water drainage, public lighting, among other aspects.
"The work began, but, due to the non-approval of the credit line from Brazil's BNDES [National Bank for Economic and Social Development], Odebrecht stopped the works in 2010", stated Carlos dos Santos.
In 2017, eight years later, with the aim of continuing the works, studies and projects were carried out for the construction of a plot of 1816 houses, for the rehousing of people living on the hills of Sumbe, infrastructure and the Sumbe ring road, the minister continued.
"These projects, which aimed to improve urban mobility, began, but after a few months, they could not be completed, because they were not approved, once again, for the credit line from China, with a total of 400 million dollars", he said.
Carlos dos Santos said that the works were resumed in 2019, relying only on Ordinary Treasury Resources (ROT), and difficulties in meeting the work schedule are already expected.
"This is the only way to understand that a project planned to take 24 months has now taken 60 months and we have a physical completion rate of 62.5 percent," said the minister, highlighting that, at the end of 2023, the head of state directed the allocation of specific funds for two projects, which came into effect at the beginning of 2024.
The minister highlighted that the Sumbe ring road had Sinohydro as the initial contractor, which was replaced by Omatapalo, and today has an average completion rate of 30 percent.
The Sumbe integrated infrastructure works, which by the end of 2023 had been completed for 42 percent, have now reached 62.5 percent, and are expected to be completed in the first half of 2025, with 400 houses also being completed, he added.
The governor emphasized that the city of Sumbe was designed for 21,000 inhabitants and now has 270,000, "a very large increase".
According to the minister, the capital of Cuanza Sul has very high water tables, making it impossible to carry out low-cost works.
Carlos dos Santos highlighted the President's approval of the flood control program for Sumbe, a concern expressed this Tuesday by the governor of Cuanza Sul, Mara Quiosa. The floods caused 64 deaths and thousands of floods between March and April.
The actions to be carried out include the dredging of the Cambongo River, the construction of protective dikes and macro and micro drainage ditches.
"In the current context, it is important to consider that the Cambongo River, which starts in the municipality of Cassongue, passes through Seles and Conda, directs all of its water here to Sumbe, resulting in flooding due to the volume of water", noted the minister.
