Africa-Press – Angola. Municipal administrations across the country will be responsible, from 2025, for actions to contain ravines in formation, a task currently under the supervision of the central Government, through the Ministry of Public Works, Urbanism and Housing.
The measure to prevent the progression of ravines was announced this Thursday, in Luanda, by the minister for this area, Carlos Alberto dos Santos, during a parliamentary hearing with members of the 5th Specialty Committee of the National Assembly, on economics and finance.
The governor considered that immediate action, at a local level, will prevent the ravines from taking on proportions that endanger the community and the ecosystem.
“The central government decided to transfer all ravines in a state of formation to the local sphere, as with ongoing investment and small equipment, administrations will have the capacity to stop the ravines in formation”, he stressed.
To this end, administrations will benefit from specialized technical training, re-equipment and financial resources defined in the General State Budget (OGE) for next year, 2025.
In 2022, the National Ravine Containment and Stabilization Plan identified 742 as priorities, as they put some social facilities, centralities, high voltage posts and large public and private investments at risk.
This number was recently updated as a result of the rains, rising to 1,300 in the country.
The provinces of Lunda-Norte, Moxico, Uíge, Cuanza-Norte, Cabinda and Cuanza-Sul were identified as those with the highest number and level of concern.
From another perspective, Carlos Alberto dos Santos said that the Ministry of Public Works, Urbanism and Housing has registered 312 projects in OGE-2024, currently being executed, of which 99 are already completed, 65 are ongoing and 39 are on hold.
Regarding the remaining 109 projects, he clarified that some are in the execution preparation phase, in procedures for the due public tender, others are still awaiting sources of financing. He presented the sector’s framework and the actions being implemented under this OGE, which reserves an amount of 468 billion to materialize projects, of which 19.9 billion is allocated to current expenses.
According to the minister, the construction and public works sector, in this OGE has already created 64 thousand jobs, with the latest contribution to the Gross Domestic Product standing at 5.2%.
In the field of roads, he revealed that the Angolan Executive changed the designation of secondary and tertiary roads to municipal roads.
In terms of the national road network, Carlos Alberto Santos reiterated that Angola has a road network of 27 thousand and 600 kilometers, of which 11 thousand and 400 have been completed, three thousand in progress, with the remaining 12 thousand kilometers beginning to be completed after 2027.
Fifteen thousand kilometers of roads are municipal (previously secondary and tertiary).
Regarding the road conservation and maintenance program, he said that the priority is to cover national roads, as well as those to promote agriculture and tourism.
He made it known that the country has planned two highways, one of 1,300 kilometers, in the southern part, connecting Angola and Namibia and to the north the Democratic Republic of Congo, and at the level of the Lobito Corridor connecting Zambia, on a road with 1,400km.
Regarding the aerial (pedestrian) bridges and hydraulic crossings, the official said that work is ongoing and the process has been reinforced with the 186 units guaranteed in agreements with the United States of America, on the occasion of the visit of the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, to this country.
From this perspective, he said that the bridge over the Kochi commune (province) is a priority for the central government.
Regarding territorial planning and urban planning, he said that only 28 of the 164 municipalities in the country have a master plan and work is being carried out to change the framework.
Regarding the housing subsector, he informed deputies that in recent years three thousand 500 homes were built, benefiting more than two million people. However, the country has a deficit of 2.2%.
From this perspective, in the central areas of Kilamba and KK 5000, more than four thousand homes will be built in the near future.
Regarding the promotion of the housing sector, he highlighted that the process of self-directed construction is taking place, on infrastructured land.
As part of the questions asked by the deputies, who asked the head of Public Works, Urban Planning and Housing, around 60 questions, based fundamentally on the quality and costs of the works, durability, typology, maintenance and conservation of roads, as well as drainage in central areas.
Regarding the durability of roads, the minister refuted the narrative that is related to price, pointing out the lack of resources for maintenance, excess weight, and a strategic partnership with the private sector, as well as a new conservation model.
Meanwhile, the deputies recommended to the minister better attention to the conservation and maintenance of roads, rapid interventions in structural road sections, concrete actions in the chapter on the sanitation of centralities, as well as the adoption of a model to reduce default in the country’s centralities.
The deputies also recommended the installation of road scales, tolls and better quality of expenses.
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