Africa-Press – Angola. From Golungo Alto to Ngonguembo, road traffic could improve in the next few days, with the end of works on the 34.2 kilometers of road that separate the two municipalities in Cuanza-Norte province.
The works of the first phase of the project, estimated at more than 21 billion Kwanzas, started in February 2022, in the commune of Cambondo, municipality of Golungo Alto, under the Program for Rehabilitation and Construction of Road Transport Infrastructures.
One of the heads of the company Tiesju Civil Engineering Group CO Limitada (CTCE), contracted to carry out the work, said that, initially, the 36-kilometer section was reduced to 34.2 kilometers, with the elimination of some curves in almost its entire length. route.
According to He Li Ming, at the moment, 23 kilometers of the said road have already been completed, after carrying out deforestation and soil stripping works, “and work is underway to complete the lower structure of the bridge over the Zenza river, which will have more than 60 meters long and six meters wide”. hydraulics and ditches for macro-drainage of rainwater.
By the end of the works, the project to build the Golungo Alto/Ngonguembo road could provide 374 direct temporary jobs for young people in the two administrative districts. Meanwhile, the contractor Tiesju Civil Engineering Group CO Limitada (CTCE) has already recruited more than 40 Angolan workers, mainly residents of Golungo Alto.
To ensure greater speed in the work, the Chinese He Li Ming explained that the project is advancing on two fronts. “We built a shipyard in the town of Cambondo and another next to the bridge over the Zenza river”, said the person in charge of works at the Chinese contractor. In the places where the work takes place, men handle machines and equipment from one side to the other. They dig ditches and widen the tracks. At the moment, the poor condition of the access roads that connect the municipality of Ngonguembo to other locations in the province of Cuanza-Norte continue to condition the free movement of people and goods. Although around 18 kilometers are already paved, from the headquarters of Golungo to the commune of Kiluanje, there are still about 28 kilometers to complete on the road, in addition to the 34.2 kilometers, counted from the detour of the commune of Cambondo,
On that road section, the journey is time-consuming and very tiring. The movement of vehicles (jeeps, vans and trucks) is slow. Due to the poor terrain conditions, it is not possible to accelerate above 80 kilometers per hour. Fatigue is also caused by the very steep and very dangerous ascents and descents, with huge trees that cross the trails and reduce the visibility angle of motorists.
15 kilometers of deforestation left
For those who go to Ngonguembo, leaving Golungo-Alto, they breathe a sigh of relief when they travel the 18 kilometers that have already been rehabilitated and, on the contrary, they take a deep breath when the odyssey begins from the point of the road that has not yet been repaired.
According to the municipal administrator of Ngonguembo, Constantino dos Santos, “on this road, in rainy weather, everything becomes more difficult.
Therefore, truck drivers and train drivers spend days with their vehicles parked, doing absolutely nothing, waiting for the rain to stop and the ground to harden, so they can return to work or continue their journey.
According to Constantino dos Santos, the work on the bridge over the Zenza River is moving towards its final stage. He added that the foundations and support pillars had already been completed and that, at the moment, work was underway to prepare the beams and other subsequent ones, such as actions to improve access points and place shackles where necessary.
“The works seem to take longer than expected, but we need to know that this road has never been asphalted and that, at this moment, the struggle is to try to eliminate its curves in the best possible way. way, to reduce the dangers it presents”, he said.
There are approximately 15 kilometers left for the clearing work to be completed, while actions are being taken to apply shackles and borrowed soils so that, finally, the earthwork itself can be carried out and, later, the asphaltic mat will be applied.
Constantino dos Santos told Angoleme (two-weekly newspaper of the Edições Novembro group), that the Municipal Administration of Ngonguembo has been doing its part in supervising and monitoring the works. “Our biggest concern is access to Camame commune. To get there, people pass through the municipal town of Golungo Alto, walking more than 110 kilometers on foot, against 45 kilometers from the municipal seat of Ngonguembo”, he said. .
He added that, as a result of the financial package recently approved by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, in the near future the two access roads to Camame will be intervened.
For the time being, the municipal administrator of Ngonguembo, Constantino dos Santos, is anxiously awaiting the completion of the works on the Golungo-Alto / Ngonguembo section, as well as the roads that connect the towns of Cerca, Cavunga, Camame, Ngonguembo (Cuanza – Norte) to Bula -Atumba (Bengo).
Citizens’ opinion
Residents of the Velho Yango neighborhood and the municipal village of Ngonguembo said that, when it rains, they experience enormous constraints in moving from one place to another, due to the accentuated degree of degradation of the access roads to the area.
“We are upset with this situation, we ask those who have the right to intervene, because the roads are completely degraded and have caused a lot of damage to vehicles and inconvenience to the general population”, said driver José Adão.
“During the rainy season, going around Ngonguembo is a torture”, said the chief of the “Velho Yango” neighborhood, Kiacumo Domingos, 76 years old. “We are tired of this. The government must quickly put a good pavement here and build water drainage systems”, he appealed.
Another traditional authority in the area, Francisco Sumba, argues that this time the work carried out on the section must be definitive, so as not to be invalidated, in such a short time, by the rains. “They like to do palliative work, even knowing that it doesn’t solve the problem. It just rains and everything goes back to the way it was before”, he criticized.
Already the driver Osvaldo Mingues applauds the work in progress. According to him, despite the work that is still underway, circulation is already done with some fluidity. “Traders and other people are now able to reach Ngonguembo more easily. I hope that, when the rains return, the road will be in excellent traffic conditions. It is the period that worries us the most, because the village is completely isolated from the rest of the territory of the province,” he said.
PIIM works
With the expansion of the main social services to the communities, such as drinking water and electricity systems, schools and health units, in addition to socio-economic infrastructure, the Municipal Administration of Ngonguembo creates the necessary conditions to develop the locality.
Currently, Ngonguembo presents a more pleasant and welcoming image, as a result of the execution of several works of construction and rehabilitation of infrastructures, within the scope of the Integrated Municipal Intervention Plan (PIIM) and the Program to Combat Poverty, which give another dynamic to the region, improving the living conditions of local populations.
The then village of Quilombo dos Dembos now has a water supply and distribution system and boreholes, which benefits thousands of citizens. In the municipal seat of Ngonguembo and peripheral neighborhoods such as “Velho Yango”, Salafunda and Kifunza, at least 925 families already consume electricity from the public network.
Also within the scope of the PIIM, the local population benefits from the construction of two new schools with seven classrooms each. Other projects included in the Combating Poverty Programme, such as the rehabilitation of the facilities of the Municipal Board of Education and the Municipal Library, construction of a seven-room school in the municipality of Camame, repair of a T-7 protocol house, construction of gardens and the creation of green and leisure spaces are also carried out in Ngonguembo.
According to administrator Constantino dos Santos, his portfolio annually receives an estimated value of 386 million Kwanzas to support expenses for integrated development and the fight against poverty.
“It is on the basis of this funding that we have implemented projects and other actions that are causing a social impact on the lives of citizens”, he stressed.
Among the works completed in the locality, the highlight is the construction of 100 housing units, which is already inhabited, of the Municipal Police Station and residences for the municipal and deputy commander, protocol houses, the Ngonguembo Municipal Administration building, Municipal Palace, facilities the Entrepreneur’s Single Counter (BUE), culture space (Clube) and the children’s playground.
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