New $101 million deal to build essential infrastructure in Angola

The African Development Bank has agreed a new deal to loan Angola over $100 million to develop vital infrastructure projects in the province of Cabinda.

The agreement was officially signed at a ceremony this week between Angola’s Finance Minister, Augusto Archer de Sousa Mangueira, and the bank’s Country Manager, Angola Joseph Ribeiro.

“This project will help address persistent economic and social problems in Cabinda, in particular, the high unemployment and poverty rates” - Finace Minister Mangueira

The bank stated that the loan will help build various essential services in the province, including four medical facilities, 750 hectares of irrigation systems, 191km of access roads and a primary school.

Cabinda is a small province separated from the rest of Angola by a narrow strip next to the Congo, but it remains home to nearly 700,000 people.

The loan is expected to benefit tens of thousands of rural agricultural smallholders in the province’s four municipalities, as well as enabling rural entrepreneurs to provide support services.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Governor of Cabinda province, Eugénio César Laborinho, praised the agreement:

“The implementation of this project inaugurates a new era in Cabinda’s history, and is timely, as it responds to the President’s recommendations to create economic opportunities for the population in Cabinda”.

Image Credit: African Development Bank

Learn more about these issues at the Climate Smart Agriculture Congress on the 6 – 7th March 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya. Hosted by the Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF), this summit will look into innovative financing, capacity building, partnerships and the use of technology to advance climate-smart agriculture practices in the African region. Find out more and register your attendance here: http://csa-africa.aidforum.org

If you’d like to stay informed on the latest updates in aid and development, please sign up to the AIDF newsletter