China is providing a US$50 million credit facility for a sanitation project in Angola’s Benguela province, according to Portugal’s Lusa news agency.
The funds will be managed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), which will come up with an additional US$75 million for the upgrade of sanitation project facilities in the cities of Benguela, Lobito, Baía Farta and Catumbela.
Pietro Toigo, the AfDB’s representative in Angola, told Lusa that the project “was approved last week, is ready and is now starting to be implemented”.
[See more: China can be expected to pivot back to Angola, analysts say]
Several Chinese projects are underway in Angola, including the Caculo-Cabaca Hydropower Station in the north-central province of Cuanza Norte. When completed in 2026, the Chinese-built facility will be Angola’s largest hydroelectric plant and the third largest in Africa.
Meanwhile, the new international airport in Luanda, being built by China National Aero-technology International Engineering Corporation at a cost of US$5 billion, is expected to start operating this year.
In a meeting earlier this month with President João Lourenço, China’s ambassador Gong Tao highlighted a year-on-year increase of 25 percent in bilateral trade to US$27 billion in 2022, and noted that relations were “in a good period of their development”.
