Manuel da Mota was speaking in Luanda, after the opening of the negotiation ceremony for the tender for the Concession of Railway Services and Support Logistics for the Lobito Corridor, which will take place over the next three days, before the contract is signed on Friday.
The consortium Trafigura Group Pte Ltd, Vecturis, SA and Mota-Engil, Engenharia e Construção África, SA, won the Lobito Corridor concession, and will manage it for the next 30 years.
The representative of Mota-Engil said that the project will allow for greater regional economic development and stressed that the transfer of knowledge is fundamental for the company.
"In Angola we already have this policy, the objective is that the majority, about 98 percent of the staff, are local and that they undergo a training process so that we can have local management in the shortest possible time", he said. Manuel Mota, noting that the company is interested in participating in other projects, if the Angolan Government expresses its intention to make other concessions.
Transport minister Ricardo de Abreu stressed at the opening ceremony that "there is a lot of technical work to be done between the teams on both sides", and stressed the importance of ensuring that there is a proper transfer of knowledge.
"To be more prepared for future challenges and speak the same language more and more," he added.
Ricardo de Abreu stressed that the winners of the Lobito Corridor concession contest "guarantee all credibility and capacity" for Angola to be able to reposition infrastructure, vital to facilitate the national economy.
"These are companies that guarantee us all the credibility and capacity also to be able to guarantee the repositioning of the Lobito Corridor, as a vital infrastructure for the facilitation of our economy, as well as for the facilitation of the economies of our neighboring countries and the Southern SADC region. [Southern African Country Development Community].
The official stressed that the project started two years ago and the first stage is almost finished, with the signing of the concession contract for the Lobito Corridor.
According to the minister, the project actually integrates two different infrastructures, namely the minerals terminal at the Port of Lobito and the infrastructure and services for the transport of goods on the Benguela Railway.
The holder of the Transport portfolio considered the process "arduous" from a technical, operational and safety point of view.
"We would like to thank the presence of our partners with whom we will live for the next 30 years, at least, we will have to learn to like each other, to live with health and joy and, obviously, with the success that we hope this will be. our project", he highlighted.
The Lobito Corridor comprises rail and port infrastructure and operation, covering more than 1,200 kilometres, linking the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico.
At the port level, the infrastructure has the capacity to handle approximately 10 percent of the country's maritime import/export cargo, with a total area of 200,000 square meters and operational capacity to handle 3.6 million tons per year. .
The State made investments in the order of US$3.2 billion for the rehabilitation of the Lobito Corridor.
The contract provides for the concessionaire to invest over US$256 million in infrastructure, US$73.3 million in equipment and rolling stock and an additional US$4.3 million in various activities.
"With the rents negotiated, the Angolan State expects to collect, in each ten-year period, revenues of US$319.4 million, in the first ten years US$787.4 million, between the eleventh and the twentieth, and US$919 million of dollars (858 million euros), in the last ten years", according to data from the Ministry of Transport.
