The president of the Industrial Association of Angola (AIA) on Tuesday in Luanda called for the re-launch of social housing programmes for high employability, which includes civil construction.
Severino was speaking on the sidelines of the “Thinking Industry 2020” conference, organised by the National Institute for Innovation and Industrial Technologies (INITI), which was attended by the Secretary of State for Trade, Amadeu Nunes.
He said that the proposal had been presented to the National Assembly’s Committee on Economy and Finance, as one of the proposals for ending the crisis.
According to Severino, the social housing programme involves not only the construction sector but also construction materials and transport.
The chairman of the AIA also called for support for small and medium companies, pragmatically and not just rhetoric, noting that the mortality rate, particularly of Angola’s micro and small companies is 80%, one of the biggest in the world.
“It is one of the biggest in the world because we also have a high rate of propensity to create wealth, to create businesses, so we need to make a conversion,” he said.
César da Cruz, the national director of industry, said that 45 years after the country’s independence, the sector continues to face great challenges, especially in terms of infrastructure, roads, water and electricity.
“A lot has been done, but more still needs to be done to feed industry,” he said.
According to César da Cruz, work is still being done to expand the electricity network, which is necessary for the government’s plan to develop the agroindustrial sector.
“Farms are located in remote areas, which are difficult to access, both by land and by the air, so it is necessary to bring electricity and water to these areas, the national distribution network continues to expand, as soon as this is effectively completed, we will be able to implement industries in these locations and thus take advantage of the synergies between agriculture and industry,” he said.
César da Cruz said that Angola already had some significant industry in terms of cement, detergents, food and beverages, although there was still a lot of work to be done in terms of international standardisation, the country was prepared to join the African Continental Free Trade Zone.
