Africa-Press – Angola. Several social works such as schools, centers and health posts, new homes built from scratch and others undergoing rehabilitation, in the municipality of Londuimbali, Huambo province, are changing the image of the town and improving the living conditions of the local population.
As part of the Integrated Plan for Intervention in Municipalities (PIIM) and the Program to Combat Poverty, work is underway to build new schools and to rehabilitate and expand the municipal hospital.
In Londuimbali, health centers and posts are being equipped with modern means and equipment, and works are underway to build systems for capturing, treating and distributing water to the population, as well as residences to support civil servants working in the region.
In the locality, 200 social houses were built in the municipal seat, all completed and ready to be inhabited.
Within the scope of the PIIM, a municipal complex is being built, valued at 245,100,000 Kwanzas, while the rehabilitation of the Londuimbali Municipal Administration building is budgeted at 131,679,575.7.
The social infrastructures aim to offer better working conditions and accommodation to employees of the local State Administration. According to the municipality’s administrator, Marcos Blástico Katchassile, the Executive is committed to solving the municipality’s problems, increasingly improving the living conditions of the population.
The residences and the town hall are brighter. Londuimbali has a Hybrid Power Station with an installed capacity of 5000 Megawatts, equipped with two solar panels and three generator sets, which ensures the supply of electricity to the populations of the district, 24/24 hours a day.
On energy, the administrator of Londuimbali, Marcos Katchassile, said that in the context of offering basic essential services, the Provincial Government of Huambo intends to reinforce, in the near future, the capacity to supply electricity to the population residing in the municipality.
In order for this goal to be achieved, the administrator explained that new generator sets will be purchased to satisfy the needs of consumer citizens, especially in the peripheral neighborhoods of the municipal village, to allow the emergence of small industries, boosting the diversification of the economy in Londuimbali.
More children in classrooms
In Londuimbali, the Education sector grows progressively, as a result of the enormous investments made by the Provincial Government of Huambo in the last five years, a period in which the municipality gained a total of 63 new classrooms, allocated to primary schools and the second cycle of education. secondary education, which facilitated the insertion of 35,000 new students, including children and young people, into the regular education system.
According to the municipal administrator of Londuimbali, Marcos Katchassile, this figure constitutes a great gain, taking into account that a few years ago the sector operated with only 12 classrooms.
“In this municipality, the number of teachers also increased significantly, with the opening of the public tender held in recent years. See that, of the approximately 400 who taught in the region, Londuimbali now has more than 700 teachers”, said the administrator, considering that this number of teachers is reasonable.
“We need 300 more teachers to cover all the schools built in this territory”, said Marcos Katchassile, who underlines with satisfaction the fact that some schools in his municipality are included in the School Lunch Programme.
He added that the program benefits students enrolled in four primary schools, and assured that in the next academic year the distribution will be extended to more school establishments. The objective is to guarantee the presence of students in the classrooms and improve the quality of teaching.
“We are working with the aim of reducing the rate of children who drop out of classes, at a time when the government is increasingly committed to increasing the number of school infrastructures in this municipality”, he highlighted.
According to Marcos Katchassile, the municipality of Londuimbali needs more teachers, mainly assistants for primary education, in order to teach in the “ombalas” and villages farther from the town.
The administrator also regretted the lack of literacy teachers, having recognized that the few who work have made a huge contribution in transmitting knowledge to adults, through Modules I and IV of the “Yes I Can” method.
For the coming years, continued the official, the challenge of the local administration of the State points to the increase of literacy teachers, in the sense of extending the training action to the areas of greater population concentration and reducing the levels of illiteracy in the region, mainly within the layer feminine.
agriculture and trade
The population of Londuimbali is mostly peasants, dedicated to the cultivation of reindeer potatoes, maize, beans, sorghum, cassava, ginguba and vegetables. Most peasants in the region benefit from support from the Provincial Office of Agriculture. It buys fertilizers at low prices, a strategy that has facilitated the expansion of cultivation areas.
For the present agricultural campaign, a total of 80 thousand families, made up of peasants and farmers, are involved in food production in order to reduce hunger and poverty in the municipality.
Commercial activity is still weak, as it lacks a more competitive market for the sale of products to the province’s different parallel markets. Meanwhile, the administrator Marcos Katchassile attributes the weak commercial activity to the absence of banking services in the municipal seat.
Alto-Hama commune has two bank branches, one belonging to Banco BIC and the other to Banco de Fomento de Angola (BFA).
“For an area that covered a total of 20 stores in full operation, today it has only five commercial establishments”, he lamented, to underline that the commercial activity itself boils down to the informal market, which in terms of movement constitutes the economic support. of the municipality.
According to the administrator of Londuimbali, the lack of benches in the municipal seat is conditioning the normal functioning of public and private institutions. “We would like to have at least one bank branch here, to allow employees’ salaries to be processed locally”, he asked.
Marcos Katchassile added that, due to the lack of banks, employees are forced to travel to the municipality of Caála or the city of Huambo, to collect their salaries and carry out other financial operations.
Health care
The health network of the municipality of Londuimbali consists of 18 units, including posts, health centers and a reference hospital, with capacity for 61 beds. These units provide services in the areas of pediatrics, medicine, emergency room, maternity, obstetrics, clinical analysis laboratory, Extended Vaccination Program (PAV) and other services.
IN CACHIUNGO
Population is anxious to see the completed works
At least ten of the 15 projects listed in the portfolio of the Integrated Plan for Intervention in Municipalities (PIIM), in Cachiungo, are practically completed, guaranteed the vice-governor of Huambo for Technical Services and Infrastructure a few days ago.
Elmano Inácio Francisco, who made a positive assessment of the projects underway in the district, said that, of the 908,470,927.22 kwanzas in the overall budget of the undertaking, the financial execution of this amount is around 810,460,041 kwanzas, which correspond to 89 .16 percent.
On a recent visit to that Huambo municipality, Elmano Francisco confirmed that, from the PIIM package destined for the region, the completed projects have already been handed over to the local State administration, and are in full use, with execution in the order of 67 percent.
“This leads us to evaluate the municipality of Cachiungo in a positive way. It gives us some satisfaction and also leaves us, in a way, rested”, highlighted the official, adding that “the level of execution of the projects increases with responsibility and monitoring of the control of works in this locality of Huambo”.
Elmano Inácio also analyzed the execution of projects in Chinhama commune, where, on 15 March last, a delegation from the Provincial Government of Huambo, headed by him, evaluated the contracts linked to the energy and water component, still to be concluded.
“It is necessary to print some speed in order for these works to be completed as quickly as possible, so that we can close the PIIM package in Cachiungo, regardless of incorporating another school”, he assured.
School with 12 rooms can accommodate up to 1000 students
The inauguration of a school with 12 classrooms in Chinhama is expected shortly. According to Elmano Inácio, the completion of the school clearly corresponds to the competences and skills that the project initially required. “Therefore, we don’t see any problem opening it as soon as possible”, he said.
He stressed that in relation to the PIIM, contractors have to make an additional effort, because all the actions and projects underway in the locality, the population knows, and therefore is eager to see them completed.
Speaking to the press, Elmano Inácio said that the public lighting project will also improve the living conditions of the people of Cachiungo.
“These communes had no energy. Today the energy networks are in use, whether domestic or public, and will soon bring an added value to the quality of life of the populations residing in these localities”, assured the official during his stay in Cachiungo.
Among the works underway, are the construction of three schools, a professional training centre, three water holes, placement of sidewalks and curbs, acquisition of two generator sets, as well as the requalification of the electrical network in the communes of Chinhama and Chiumbo , and also at the municipal headquarters.
Cachiungo has an estimated population of over 150,000 inhabitants. It is limited to the north by Bailundo and to the east by the municipalities of Chinguar and Chitembo, both belonging to the province of Bié. In its southern part, it borders on the municipality of Cuvango, in the province of Cuando Cubango, and west of Chicala-Cholohanga.
The region that has in beekeeping, agriculture and pastoralism the main sources of sustainability of the families counts, in addition to the municipal headquarters, with the communes of Chiumbo and Chinhama.
The communal administrator of Chinhama, Benjamim Carlos, assured that the extension of a school complex in the area, within the scope of the PIIM, is welcome, as it will help in the insertion of more students in the normal education system.
“With this, there will be the possibility of more students being inserted into the normal education system in the commune”, said the administrator of Chinhama, having assured that the school can accommodate from 800 to 1000 students, in two shifts (morning and afternoon), ” without discarding, however, classes, which can take place at night, as soon as the public lighting system is installed”.
The communal responsible recalled that, in the Chinhama commune, classes run from Initiation to 9th grade. Benjamim Carlos also spoke about projects linked to the energy and water sector.
Regarding energy, he said that not all inhabitants of the city benefit from the service, “but we are doing everything to resolve the situation. At the moment, we need to acquire more electrical cables for the extension of energy services”.
Chinhama has a 160 KVA generator set, which benefits more than a thousand families. “We continue to pass on energy contracts, despite the fact that many people are already benefiting from this service”, he stressed.
With regard to water, a municipal budget project is being developed in the commune. According to the administrator of Chinhama, in light of the PIIM, a water pumping system is being implemented at the communal headquarters.
Benjamim Carlos spoke of other ongoing works, with emphasis on the 49 kilometers of the road that extends to Chilenda, as well as the directed self-construction works, in the land reserve of Chinhama, which should benefit the youth.
By the way, the administrator highlighted the availability of more plots of land, whose streets are being executed with machines and with the support of the Municipal Administration of Cachiungo. “It’s another project in the pipeline”, he said.
As for Health, the local medical center only has eight beds. The services are ensured by medium health technicians and, in those cases where the presence of doctors is necessary, these are requested from the municipal headquarters of Cachiungo. The same procedure is done in case there is a shortage of medicines.
Old obligatory stop
Located along National Road 250, which connects the coast to the provinces of Bié and Cuando Cubango, for many years, the commune of Chiumbo was isolated from the rest of the province, due to the degradation caused by the war, on the Bailundo/ Cachiungo.
Chiumbo was, in ancient times, an obligatory stop for anyone traveling from the North to the East of the country, without having to pass through the city of Huambo. With the rehabilitation works it underwent, it regained its place in the geography of the region and population.
In the last 12 years, new schools, centers and health posts have emerged, which have helped to improve the living conditions of the local population, mostly peasants, who at this time, despite still having some difficulties, are already able to take their products from the countryside to the large commercial centers, such as the village of Bailundo, Catchiungo, Tchicala Tcholohanga and the municipal headquarters of Huambo.
The Municipal Administration of Cachiungo has long been planning the rehabilitation of secondary and tertiary roads, with the respective bridges, and expanding the offer of social services to the inhabitants of the district.
Sergio V. Dias
JornaldAngola
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