Africa-Press – Angola. Papusseco Cangundo, resident in the municipality of Cangandala, province of Malanje, does not hide the signs of satisfaction. Don’t stop smiling. He is very happy with the arrival of drinking water and electricity from the public network in the town.
Despite the neighborhood where he lives not being covered in the first phase of the distribution process, the citizen believes that, sooner or later, such services will reach all residents of the periphery.
Equally satisfied, the resident Fiança Gouveia does not want to wait too long to see the energy and water reach the neighborhoods that surround the municipal village of Cangandala and, therefore, asks that services be immediately expanded, “to ensure balanced development Of region”.
Entrepreneur Tiago João Justo, who works in the Service Provision and General Trade area, remembers the difficulties he faced, before the arrival of energy in the municipality, to keep the office functional using an old generator.
He explained that his activities are mostly carried out in the office, where it is impossible to work without electricity, because the equipment depends 100 percent on it to function.
“But now we have 24/7 public grid energy. I’m going to make a lot of gains and I’m even thinking of extending services because, with the generator, some machines remained off. The stress of buying and storing a lot of fuel, spending money is over to regularly maintain the generator, in short, all that is behind us”, said the young entrepreneur, visibly satisfied.
Also jumping for joy is shopkeeper Suzana Tomás, who works at the Cangandala Municipal Market, where she has been selling various products for over five years. “I thank God for that. Our prayers were heard. We suffered a lot from the lack of water and electricity, but now our problem is solved. Our children will no longer wander around to watch the different television programs, mainly soap operas and soccer games. I am very happy”, he said.
About water, Susana Tomás remembers that many of the residents went to get the precious liquid from a well located in the Kaionde neighborhood, five kilometers from the municipal headquarters. “But today, thank God, we already have water in our backyards. We are very grateful and satisfied”, she concluded.
For the chief of Cangandala, Alexandre António “Saka”, “with the arrival of water and energy in the locality, the population is experiencing great moments of joy, because they know that the development of this municipality depends on the presence of these two important social services”.
In May of this year, the residents of Cangandala were able to rely on an electrical power substation connected to the Laúca hydroelectric dam, and a system for capturing and supplying drinking water to around 40,537 inhabitants. Work on the water system, carried out along the Cuije River, was budgeted at US$6,751,239.
The two social facilities were inaugurated by the Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, who, on the occasion, acknowledged that there was still a lot of work to be done in Malanje, at a time when, of the 14 municipalities in the province, only four are electrified, namely Malanje (provincial headquarters), Cacuso, Calandula and Cangandala.
“We still have a big challenge ahead of us, which is to electrify the other ten municipalities, and, if everything goes as planned, this will be done in the next four years”, he guaranteed.
According to Minister João Baptista Borges, the old system for capturing and supplying water was no longer able to support demand, due to population growth. “This new system will make it possible to cover the entire municipality of Cangandala. Therefore, the network expansion work will continue to be done, to cover the neighborhoods and villages on the outskirts”, he underlined.
The governor of Malanje, Marcos Nhunga, after highlighting the economic and social gains of the municipality, referred that, in the region of “Palanca Negra Gigante”, priority was given to the rehabilitation of access roads, water supply and electricity supply.
He asked the traditional authorities of the municipality to reassure the population, because, “gradually, everyone will benefit from electricity from the public network”.
According to the municipal administrator of Cangandala, Dilangue Baião, the arrival of these services to the locality constitutes an asset, as Cangandala has not had a Water Treatment Station (WTP) for over 20 years.
“This project allowed the creation of 27 fountains, of which 13 have two spouts and 14 have four spouts, to benefit more than 23,000 inhabitants”, he explained. The new water system, according to administrator Dilangue Baião, extends from the northern area of the village of Capemba de Baixo, on the border with the municipality of Malanje, and reaches the municipal seat. “All the neighborhoods along the road have fountains and, here at village level, the water also reaches the villages from Cassuco and Beje”, he added.
More than 15 thousand beneficiaries
In Cangandala, the new electricity supply system is benefiting over 15,000 inhabitants. Energy, according to administrator Dilangue Baião, was restricted only to residents of the municipal headquarters.
“The medium voltage cables left the province’s main municipality for Cangandala and, at that time, all its surrounding villages were also already benefiting from energy. An interconnection was made between the new network and the old network, since, previously, the municipality was supplied through generator groups”, he explained.
With the generator sets, he recalled, energy was supplied daily from 6 pm to midnight. “There is, at the moment, a commitment that the neighborhoods, along the National Road 140, especially from the village of Capemba de Baixo to the village of Sango, in the vicinity of the 200 dwellings, will be benefited”.
“The ENDE must carry out the survey, therefore, contacts are already underway to survey the households, the number of houses that exist in each village, so that the appropriate appointments can be made and the Ministry of Energy and Water and the Provincial Government of Malanje can acquire more Electricity Transformation Stations (PTE) to facilitate the expansion to these neighborhoods and, consequently, improve the distribution of electricity”, he said.
Dilangue Baião added that, at the level of the municipal seat, there are other challenges to be met, such as improving public lighting and the functioning of health services. The administrator of Cangandala guaranteed that the neighborhoods along National Road No. 140, the village of Kipakassa and the Kwanza sector, where there are tourist sites such as the Kwanza Rapids and the respective beach, will also be illuminated.
“With energy, private investment will become a reality. We in Kwanza not only have the rapids, but also the seven Islands, a beautiful place to be visited many times, Ngola Island, in short, there is the reunion with our history”, he stressed.
For the administrator, the arrival of electricity will provide good levels of development to the district. Dilangue Baião explained that, since the inauguration of the water and electricity systems, the volume of requests for land, for the construction of socio-economic developments, has increased significantly. “I would even say that the requests quadrupled”, he indicated.
Difficulties in implementing the PIIM
“The Integrated Intervention Plan in Municipalities (PIIM) in Cangandala is not going well”, underlined the municipal administrator, to justify that of the five projects destined for the locality, three have already been completed (two schools and the work to improve basic sanitation).
The big problem lies in the earthworks on the Cangandala/Caribo/Cula Magia and Cangandala/Bembo road sections, which have been paralyzed for over eight months. At the moment, concertation actions are underway with the contractors, in order to be able to resume works.
On the financial package for the works on the Cangandala/Caribo/Cula Magia road, Dilangue Baião added that 80 million kwanzas remain to be paid to the contractor, while 205 million kwanzas are missing for the commune of Bembo. “We also need to pay for a school with 12 classrooms and another with seven”, he said.
Lack of teachers and classrooms
A total of 500 teachers ensure the functioning of the Education sector in the municipality of Cangandala, a location that needs at least another 100 teachers to reduce the number of children who are outside the normal education system.
This year, with the entry into operation of 12 classrooms, built within the scope of the PIIM, it was possible to enroll more than 20,000 students from Initiation to 12th grade.
Cangandala has a hospital which, in addition to providing medical assistance and medication to the resident population, has been treating patients coming from the city of Malanje and the municipality of Mussende, Cuanza- Sul.
In addition to the hospital and health center operating in the Bembo commune, the municipality of Cangandala has ten more health units (health posts) in the sectors of Tamba, Kwanza, Kipakassa, Cacualo, Kimuezo, Gio, in the village of NgolaKassaxi, as well as in the communes of Caribo and Cula Magia, which mostly work with casual nurses. For the municipal director of Health in Cangandala, Claudete Africana, the withdrawal of the financial heading for “Primary Health Care” is conditioning the functioning of the sector.
Cangandala Municipal Hospital offers emergency bench services, external consultations, pediatrics, medicine, pharmacy, among others. The areas of ophthalmology, stomatology and x-rays ceased to function due to a lack of specialists, difficulties in handling the new equipment or the breakdown of the older ones.
With eight doctors, including an expatriate woman, Cangandala Municipal Hospital has only one ambulance.
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