Africa-Press – Angola. The General State Budget (OGE) 2024 for the province of Benguela, estimated at more than 231 billion kwanzas, increased by 18 percent compared to 2023.
The information comes from the director of the Study, Planning and Statistics Office (GEPE) of the Provincial Government of Benguela, Manuel Miguel Luzolo, stating that this budget increase will allow the insertion of more projects, focusing on the education, health, water and energy.
For this year, he announced that the province has an approved budget of over 231 billion kwanzas, 81 percent of which is for basic expenses, that is, salaries and to guarantee the functioning of other public institutions, such as hospitals, schools, the government and administrations.
He also mentioned that development support expenses are included aimed at assisting vulnerable families, promoting agriculture and livestock and fisheries, as well as cleaning and basic sanitation.
Projects
In an interview with Rádio Benguela, Manuel Miguel Luzolo assured that the budget increase will allow giving priority to the completion of some ongoing actions, within the framework of Public Investment Projects (PIP), which represent around 13 percent of the 2024 OGE for the province.
For the education sector, the director of GEPE listed the project to build permanent classrooms in existing schools with precarious classrooms, in order to improve teaching and learning conditions for students.
By way of example, he recalled that in December 2023 the Provincial Government had already delivered 21 definitive classrooms for this project in two schools in the municipality of Benguela, as well as the Polytechnic Institute BG 0030 “António Satito”, with 21 classrooms, in the area of Cabrais.
In this context, he made it known that the inauguration of a 20-room school in the municipality of Bocoio is on the cards, the construction of a similar teaching unit in Chongoroi and Baía Farta, with the Ganda project expected to start in the near future.
He also highlighted the water sector among the province’s priorities and indicated the construction of the collection system in the Cabrais area, as the electricity situation has already been resolved.
He stated that the government’s intervention in Cabrais has been limited to the construction of social infrastructure, such as schools, health units and around 300 houses to relocate families removed from the risk areas of Lobito and Catumbela.
In addition, he also mentioned the completion of the Bocoio Water Treatment Plant (ETA), a project that was of central scope and passed to the sphere of the Provincial Government of Benguela, depending on the financial solutions found.
He also guaranteed an increase in household connections and said that problems in water supply to coastal cities are being addressed through the Benguela Integrated Infrastructure Program.
Another sector, he pointed out, is defense and security, with a portfolio of projects for the construction of police stations and also the Cubal municipal command, which, as he noted, will give some dignity to the exercise of this task of guaranteeing public security.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
