Africa-Press – Angola. Economist Júlio Tchimbilundu de Paiva considered, this Tuesday, the Lobito Corridor as a decisive factor for socioeconomic development, as it is an alternative for full employment and the expansion of the tax base.
Júlio Tchimbilundu de Paiva said there are enough reasons to be proud of the Angolan Executive’s concern in “reviving” this important infrastructure, which is based on the Port of Lobito and the significant Benguela Railway, as well as its transversality across Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to the economist, the Executive’s apparent concern in wanting to see the “giant” Lobito Corridor revived aims to bring the advantages it is capable of providing to the national socioeconomic development and the region, in general, through free trade.
He added that the infrastructure will also place Angola on the launching pad and enhance the export of salt and fish from Baixa Farta (Benguela), Huambo granite, resurrecting the ceramic industry in the municipalities of Caála, Chicala-Cholohanga and Longonjo, among other goods and services from the provinces of Bié and Moxico.
With the full functioning of the Lobito Corridor, he said, tourism will gain more space and, as a result, will have a greater share in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), through an increase in full employment, the expansion of the tax base and the consequent public revenue.
“In this project there are possibilities for multiplicative effects to be born and if investors are bold, then here is the opportunity for an Angola with a future for our children”, he stressed.
He recalled that the infrastructure was once the largest mineral flow channel in Southern Africa and thousands of people circulated through it, thus providing the economic achievement and social visibility of the countries in the region, hence the need for each Angolan to to dedicate oneself to this undertaking by the Angolan Executive.
The Lobito Corridor extends, in Angola, for 1300 km, passing through the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico, and then continues for 400 km in the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kolwezi, the heart of the Copperbelt, in the Republic of Zambia, It is also connected to the Republic of Congo’s railway network.
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