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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLE
OF DIVERSIFICATION
Page 03
Investing in social
development
West Africa’s
green province
Modern public works and
top-notch schools move
Cabinda forward Page 04
Natural wonders abound,
from wild vegetation to exotic
animal life Page 07
Friday, February 20, 2009
INSIDER VIEW
Cabinda
Jose Anibal
Lopes
Rocha,
Governor of
Cabinda
Cabinda is heating up as West Africa’s premier destination for foreign investment.
Five years of development are also paying off as the Angolan province’s solid social
agenda is drawing new residents from all over the country. Now a new peace treaty
has put an end to political unrest, and a new statute has given local government a
green light to really think big. Angola’s green province is a region worth watching
Location:
A province of Angola,
separated from the rest
of the country by the
Democratic Republic of
Congo and the Republic
of Congo
Capital:
Cabinda City
Population:
Approximately 300,000
Agriculture products:
Cassava, bananas, coffee
Industries:
Oil extraction, oil refinery,
construction materials,
food produce, tobacco,
timber and furniture
Area:
3,020 square miles, or
approximately the same
size as Gambia
Petroleum production:
700,000 barrels per day
Ethnic groups:
Cacongo, Ngoyo,
Loango, Bakongo and
Kikongo
Bordering countries and
oceans:
Republic of Congo,
Democratic Republic of
Congo, South Atlantic
Ocean
Municipalities:
Belize, Buco Zau,
Cabinda and Cacongo
Climate:
Ecuatorial; tropical rain
forest
Natural resources:
Petroleum, diamonds,
gold, magnesium,
phosphates, uranium,
gas, tropical wood,
cocoa, palm oil, fish
Government type:
Constitutional
Democracy
Currency:
Angolan Kwanza
OUR TEAM
Project management:
Alexis Fernández Barnes
Cristina Salgado
Sergio Ramos
For further information
contact:
Summit Communications
1040 First Avenue,
Suite 395,
New York, NY 10022-2902
Tel: 1 (212) 286-0034,
Fax: 1 (212) 286-8376,
E-mail:
[email protected]
An online version is
available at
www.summitreports.com
Moving forward with the times
Some of the world’s largest oilfields lie off her shores, and for a very long time, Cabinda was synonymous with oil.
Now moving beyond this, the province is looking to use some of its other considerable advantages
ngola's province of Cabinda has
begun a new era of political stability and economic development
following the coming of peace
and the end of the local separatist
movement. Cabinda has long been one of Angola's richest provinces, and for decades was
by far its biggest export earner, thanks to its
oil wealth.
Now Cabindans are living through a period of great advances in the province's
education and health systems and are benefiting from the strong economic growth
that has resulted from the end of the
armed conflict.
Peace returned to the province when the
Cabinda Forum for Dialogue, representing the separatists, and the government
signed a pact on Aug. 1, 2006. That accord has already improved the lives of
Cabindans by permitting them to return
to their homes and farms and start the
process of rebuilding the province.
“The government and the Cabinda Forum
for Dialogue signed the accords with the intention of ending the hostilities from which
the province had been suffering,” said Jose
Anibal Lopes Rocha, the governor of the
province. “That event is what opened the
door to the development that Cabinda is experiencing today.”
Under the terms of the pact, the government and the guerrillas have ended hostilities, the guerrillas are being integrated
into the Angolan Armed Forces, and positions in the national government have been
reserved for Cabindans.
As part of the effort to reintegrate members of the now defunct separatist movement, the former combatants and their families will now be able to get themselves inscribed on the national identification list, and
receive identification cards, free of charge.
The province's people are committed to
forming an integral part of Angola's future. Voters turned out in large numbers
to participate in the Sept. 5, 2008 election, which was judged by European Union
observers to be “peaceful and orderly,” as
well as transparent, though organization-
A
al problems caused a few polling stations
to stay open for a second day to permit all
voters to cast their ballots.
The big winner in the elections was the governing party, the MPLA, which won about 80%
of the vote at the national level, with the
biggest opposition party, UNITA, gaining
10%. In Cabinda, the result was a bit different, as the MPLA won 63% and Unita was
supported by 31%.
The big turnout shows that Cabinda is now
more united than ever with the rest of Angola. Of course that doesn't stop Cabindans
from cheering on locals in nationwide competitions, and celebrating when they win.
Just this past November the province's representative came out on top in the Variante
2008 popular music festival. Solange Nery, a
20-year-old student, edged out the next closest competitor by one point, and was awarded a diploma and a check for $10,000 by Angola's Minister of Culture, Rosa Cruz e Silva.
Now that Cabinda and its residents enjoy
political stability in the region, they can turn
their sights to improving their lives and the
economy. Cabinda is already benefiting from
increased government spending and greater
economic expansion.
As part of the 2006 agreement, Cabinda
keeps a percentage of the revenue from the
sale of oil, and the regional government is
devoting that extra cash towards improving
the lives of Cabindans through increased
spending on health, education and infrastructure.
“We all know that the Angolan people in
general, after the long period of war, find
themselves in terrible situations, in need of
urgent help, and for this reason the Forum
and the government together are working to
change this situation,” said Bento Bembe,
leader of the Cabinda Forum for Dialogue.
Another part of the spending has gone to
increasing the number of police in the province,
which has led directly to lower crime rates.
Cabinda has gone from having one police station to nine, plus another seven police posts
spread throughout the area.
A project that will be funded with oil money is a 20-kilometer, $2.55 billion bridge and
roadway that will link the exclave of Cabinda to the rest of Angola, crossing over the
Congo river and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo upon completion in 2012.
With the improvement of the situation in
Cabinda, refugees are returning to their homes,
and are now in need of employment, as are
the guerrillas that aren't being integrated into the armed forces. The regional government
is helping in this area by funding efforts to
diversify the economy, encouraging more
agricultural activity, building an industrial
park and promoting an increase in fishing and
other productive activities.
“Our greatest wish is to see Cabinda as a
great destination for investment,” said Bembe, who is also a minister without portfolio
in the national government. “Peace is the essential factor to attract foreign investments
that help reduce unemployment. We're working together with the government and these
concerns are our priority.”
The
provincial
capital,
Cabinda
City, is the
epicenter of
the
province’s
commercial
and
industrial
activity, and
home to
most of its
280,000
population
Interview with Jose Anibal Lopes Rocha, Governor of Cabinda
“We are extending the health system”
How does Cabinda contribute to its own growth,
and the growth of the rest of the country?
In addition to oil, Cabinda has other minerals, such as gold, phosphate and diamonds,
that are still to be exploited. We have a lot of
wood and marine resources.
The resources that Cabinda generates are
withheld at the source to be used in reconstruction and public investment progams. Before we had an annual budget of $72 million,
and today we have a budget of $250 million.
High-profile public infrastructure projects
are being carried out at the airport, the port,
in water, energy, education and health etc.
We've even had the privilege of having the
President of the Republic inaugurate some of
these projects.
We're still investing a lot in housing projects. We’ve just finished a neighborhood of
100 houses that will be used by public workers, and we're now building another neighborhood of 250 houses, half of which are already finished.
With all this we should see great progress
in Cabinda, thanks to the support and or-
ganization of the central government. Obviously Cabinda plays an important role in
the development of other provinces. The
bounty that Cabinda has generated has been
important to the overall development of the
country.
Cabinda's onshore oil reserves are now more accessiblethanthey’vebeeninthepast.Giventhat,
would you say Cabinda can be Angola’s greatest
oil producer?
Yes. As you know, at this moment almost 4% of the oil that the U.S. imports
from the rest of the world comes from
Cabinda. Until now exploration in the
province was conducted offshore, but now
onshore exploration has revealed there's
great potential there.
Well-known companies have already
come to Cabinda and that will certainly
have an impact on people's lives because
it will create more employment. That's
why we're going to create the housing conditions for locals and expatriots that come
to work in that activity.
What are you doing to spur agricultural production?
In addition to working with the state,
we're also cooperating with some non-governmental organizations, among them an
American one, in the organization of the agricultural sector. An interesting fact is that Angola already has surpluses of some agricultural products.
Recently we've started using greenhouse
technology that will let us continue to produce
food even during the rainy season, and now a
large part of the fruits and vegetables consumed
in Cabinda are produced locally.
What are you doing to improve the welfare of the
peopleintheregionandhelpattractinvestment?
Cabinda has a functioning health care system
that ensures people's safety. Right now we're
extending the health system to areas where
it has been weakest. We have a good health
system, and Cabinda stands out regarding the
low level of infant mortality – it's the lowest
in the country.
We have a specific program against malar-
ia that goes beyond fighting local outbreaks to fumigating households and
streets, which helps protect people from the illness.
I should add that the
province has good quality schools, with no students outside the system, which means that we
have schools in every town.
What competitive advantages does the region
have?
The province is a 35 minute flight from Luanda, and is less than 400 kilometers from Luanda, Brazzavile and Gabon. One sign that investments here are safe is the presence already
of many international oil companies.
We're going to build a deepwater port, a
project that has been ready to go for some
time, we were just waiting for the green light
to start it. Another project that will tie Cabinda more closely to the rest of the country is
for a bridge on which construction will start
at the end of this year.
THIS ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT IS PRODUCED BY SUMMIT COMMUNICATIONS AND DID NOT INVOLVE THE REPORTING OR EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE NEW YORK TIMES
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Friday, February 20, 2009
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Cabinda
Cabinda’s special statute means more autonomy for the provincial government and, with the assistance of USAID and donorship from major oil
companies, the province is beginning to implement a range of social and infrastructural programs to improve daily life for its citizens
Peace has paved the way for a
stepped up U.S. presence in
Cabinda, spurring development
he U.S. has long had commercial
relations with Angola, based initially on interest in the African
country's abundant oil and gas
resources, but more recently on
the desire to help spread peace and development across the continent.
American oil companies began their operations in Angola while it was still a Portuguese colony, and that involvement continued after independence in 1975 and during the civil conflict that wracked the country in the following decades.
Peace agreements signed in 2002 and 2006
brought stability to the entire country, and
opened the way for groups including the
United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, to come and help with
the task of rebuilding Cabinda and the rest
of Angola.
The 2006 Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Cabindan separatist forces
and Angola's central government finally
brought an end to the conflict in the province,
an advance the U.S. strongly supported, calling it a “significant step” towards peace.
“For the people of Cabinda, this Memorandum of Understanding is more than just
a document on peace and reconciliation,”
the White House said in a statement released
at the time of the signing. “It is the promise
of economic development and increased political influence.”
The U.S. has since then been actively contributing to development in Cabinda. USAID
just agreed to continue funding a non-governmental organization called Search for
Common Ground that is helping to reduce
conflict in the province while also improving infrastructure.
USAID agreed to increase its funding of USAID has worked with several partners and donated funds to improve the lives of Cabindans
the group to $600,000 over the next two through various projects, such as investing in agriculture
years, from $490,000 in the previous two
years, after judging that the NGO had man- distribution infrastructure. The program is funded by Chevron through the Cabinda
aged the original funds satisfactorily.
expected to create 5,000 new jobs spread Agribusiness Development Alliance (CADA),
Search for Common Ground holds semi- across 1,000 farms. The goal is for at least is helping to start up a local honey-pronars and other meetings intended to help some of the extra food produced to be sold ducing industry. As part of the program, CApeople find peaceful ways to resolve con- to Chevron's Malongo oil terminal, located DA has brought in experts to train bee keepflicts, and has also participated in funding onshore in Cabinda.
ers and teach them how to build and mainthe construction of a 25,000-liter water tank
“Chevron is determined to increase its pur- tain hives.
in the Cabindan village of Manchase of supplies from Angolan
All of these efforts to help Angola are part
Cabinda is the
darin, and in improving local
companies as much as possible,” of the U.S.'s desire to improve relations with
site of some of
roads.
said Alan Kleier, general director of this key African country. During the admin“This agreement we're signing the biggest
Chevron's unit in Angola. “Com- istration of George W. Bush, the U.S. worked
today to support Search for Com- investments in oil panies here have benefited in that consistently toward that goal, and it will
mon Ground's program is also an made by U.S.
way.”
continue to do now that President Barack
opportunity to commemorate our companies
USAID and several partners also Obama has been inaugurated, according to
mutual commitment for the de- abroad
participate in the Municipal De- U.S. Ambassador Dan Mozena.
velopment of Cabinda,” said Suvelopment Program, which is inAngola, and in particular, Cabinda, are
san Brems, Director of USAID, during the tended to promote participation in govern- the site of some of the biggest investments
signing.
ment and to make local governments more in oil made by U.S. companies abroad, and
USAID is also working with other groups, efficient as they work to meet citizens' needs. the new administration will want to work to
including Chevron and its partners in the
The program operates in several Angolan expand investments into other economic
Block Zero oil field, to help improve the lives provinces, and was first launched in the sectors, the ambassador explained.
of Cabindans. The oil companies recently country in the province of Cabinda, with
Angola can also play a larger role in the
agreed to contribute $3 million, and USAID funding of more than $8 million to improve rest of Africa, Mozena said. It has one of
$1 million, to a project to promote com- local administrators' ability to plan, budget, the continent's biggest and most profesmercial agriculture. The money will be used implement and oversee local development sional armies, and so has the ability to play
to train farmers to improve productivity and programs.
an important part in peacekeeping tasks in
quality, and to help set up warehousing and
An interesting project started in 2006, and various conflicts.
Understanding and
reintegration opening
path to peaceful future
T
The central government is committed to the peace process, and
to integrating Cabinda more fully into the Angolan economy
abinda recently celebrated the second anniversary of the agreement that brought peace to the province, after decades of
armed conflict between Angola's central government and separatists fighting for independence.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed on August 1, 2006 by the government and the group representing
the separatists, the Cabinda Forum for Dialogue, marked the
beginning of a new era for the province, in which its considerable mineral wealth can now be used to improve the lives of
the region's people. The Chief of Staff of the Angolan Armed
Forces said in October that the province is now enjoying a calm
and stable environment, another positive sign for Cabinda as it
moves forward.
“This is an irreversible process that removes all negative factors from the past, to build a nation united in the values of
democracy, social justice and respect for human rights,” said Aldina Matilde da Lomba, the director of the provincial agency in
charge of helping reintegrate the former separatist fighters into the province's civil society.
That reintegration was one of the main promises made by
the central government to the
Forum, along with promising
Cabinda certain special rights
and guaranteeing Cabindans
positions in the president's
cabinet.
To date the central government has been diligent about
fulfilling its responsibilities under the MOU, according to Antonio Bento Bembe, the head
of the Forum. Bembe recently Elections were held on
praised President Jose Eduar- September 5th, 2008. The
do dos Santos for the close at- country’s ruling MPLA party
tention he has paid to the rec- won both nationally and in the
province of Cabinda
onciliation process.
“Those of us involved in
the process have always believed that the government would
honor its commitments with the FDC,” said Bembe. “The government would never abandon this important process of
pacifying Cabinda.”
The central government has already budgeted funds to carry out two of the most important tasks remaining, said Bembe, which are helping fighters from the Front for the Liberation
of the Exclave of Cabinda as they return to civilian life, and
helping refugees still in nearby countries return to the province.
Angola held national elections on September 5 of last year,
which were won by president dos Santos's MPLA party, both
at the national level and in Cabinda. The election was judged
to be free and fair, and marked another step along Angola's
path towards development, as well as Cabinda's integration
into the country.
“Political parties have been able to carry out their activities without any impediment or irregularity,” said Anibal
Lopes Rocha, governor of the province of Cabinda and a member of the MPLA. “As you can see we have strong indications that democracy is now a fact in our country.”
C
Province receives benefits of the banking boom
ngola's and Cabinda's economies are
booming, thanks to increased revenue
from oil and the increased emphasis in
government spending on infrastructure development. The prosperity generated by
all this activity is spreading to other parts
of the economy, as more people find jobs
and start to save money.
Angola's banks are getting more and
more involved in financing the country's
expansion, according to a study published recently by consulting group KPMG Angola. In 2007, Angolan banks
channelled 75% of deposits back into
the economy in the form of credits, an
85% increase from the previous year,
when just 43% of deposits were turned
into credit.
According to the KPMG report, Angola's banking sector is experiencing a period of “exceptional growth, profitability and dynamism.” The rapid development
of the financial industry is spurring the
opening of new banks, which are attracted by the country's strong economic growth and recent regulatory changes.
Cabinda is also benefiting from the increased interest on the part of banks in
expanding within the country. The number of bank branches in the province recently increased to nine, including the
Banco de Poupanca e Credito (BPC), Banco de Comercio e Industria (BCI), Banco
Africano de Investimentos (BAI), Banco
de Fomento de Angola (BFA), Banco Totta de Angola (BTA), Banco Internacional
de Credito (BIC), Banco Sol and Banco
Espirito Santo Angola.
A
Several more banks currently have plans
to open offices in the province, including Banco Millennium, Novo Banco and
Banco Internacional de Negocios, which
will introduce more competition and contribute to more savings and investment
in Cabinda.
Many of the banks in Angola are entirely owned by, or at least controlled by,
financial groups from Portugal, the country's former colonial overseer. Banco Millennium is half-owned by Banco Comercial Portugues, Portugal's biggest publicly
traded bank. BFA is 100% owned by Banco BPI, and Banco Espirito Santo Angola is controlled by the Espirito Santo Financial Group.
Banco Totta de Angola is the Angolan
unit of Banco Santander Totta, which is
a formerly independent Portuguese bank
that is now controlled by Spain's Banco
Santander, that country's biggest lender.
Angola's banks have risen to close to
the top of the rankings for African financial
institutions, according to a recent report
by the BNET Business Network. Angolan
banks were three of the top 10 banks on
the BNET website's Top 25 African Banks
ranking, accompanied on the list by seven South African lenders.
BFA was the highest ranked, at number
seven, followed by BAI in the eighth
position, while
BPC came in at
number 10. All
these banks are
growing rapidly as they benefit from Angola's strong
economy,
BNET said in
its report.
The banks are also
Angola’s banks have risen to close to the top of the rankings for African financial
institutions, according to a recent report by the BNET Business Network
contributing to that growth, of course,
as the deposit and credit figures from KPMG demonstrate. Privately-owned banks
aren't the only ones that are lending to
business. The Banco de Desenvolvimento de Angola, or BDA, is also very active.
The BDA was set up in 2006 by the
Angolan government to “accelerate the
balanced and sustainable development
of Angola, by
providing for the creation
of employment and income, the
modernization of social and economic
structures and the increase of competitiveness in the country.”
The BDA has been very active in Cabinda, particularly in financing the expansion of businesses that make construction supplies. Demand for such supplies
is strong because of the boom in construction, and shortages are slowing some
projects down.
One company, called So Cargas, borrowed 22.3 million kwanzas ($296,000)
to buy new equipment, including two
new saws, to help increase production.
The owner, Luis Gomes Sambo, is confident he'll be able to repay the loan because of the low interest rates and high
demand for his company's products.
“The market is lucrative, and with this
new equipment I'm going to increase sales, not just here but also in Luanda, where I've just gotten some new orders,” Sambo
said.
Another beneficiary of credit
from the BDA is a brick-making
company called EMPEBAT-Empresa Exploradora de Burgau,
Areia e Terra. EMPEBAT borrowed $2 million to buy equipment to increase output and help supply materials for the
construction of new housing in the
province.
Between the growth in financing by
private banks and the funding of projects by the BDA and other lenders, Angola's banks are becoming increasingly
important contributors to economic expansion.
Angola's government has played a key
part in the growth of both the banking
sector and the economy itself. By pursuing macroeconomic stability and reforming the country's banking regulations, the government has created the
conditions necessary for the expansion
to begin and to continue, all of which
is benefiting regular Angolans.
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3
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
CHARTS OIL & GAS
Cabinda
Top African Oil Production by Country, 2007
Angola’s Oil Production and Consumption, 1997-2007
1,800
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
2,120
Nigeria
1,700
Libya
1,680
Angola
1,370
Algeria
660
Egypt
470
Sudan
420
Equatorial Guinea
240
Gabon
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
Crude
Production
Net Exports
Consumption
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Year
Thousand Barrels per Day
Source: EIA Short Term Energy - Outlook March 2008
Total
Production
Source: EIA International Energy Annual. Short-Term Energy Outlook
Top sub-Saharan Africa* Proven Natural Gas Reserve Holders, 2008
Angola
Cameroon
Mozambique
Congo (Brazz)
Sudan
Namibia
Rwanda
Equatorial Guinea
Mauritania
Cote d’Ivoire
Gabon
*Excluding Nigeria
(183,9 Tcf) to maintain scale
0
1
Massive output and the coming on-line of new fields have propelled Angola, and Cabinda, to the forefront of African oil
production. With 10 percent of revenues being pumped back into social development programs, the province is a winner
Angola’s oil wealth is being redistributed through government health and education grants
construction and installation capabilities.
Chevron Corp.'s local unit, Cabinda Gulf
Oil Company, or CABGOC, is one of the biggest
players in the Cabindan oil industry. It has a
31% share in Block 14 production and a 39%
stake in Block Zero.
Much of the oil produced in Cabinda is exported through Chevron's Malongo terminal,
a largely self-sufficient encampment on the
coast whose loading terminal can accommodate Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs). The
VLCCs can hold as much as 950,000 barrels
of crude oil.
Chevron is in fact one of the biggest
oil producers in Angola, with a total daily production of 171,000 barrels of oil.
It's the country's biggest foreign oil industry employer, with about 2,700 Angolans on the staff, or about 87% of the
local company's total workforce. Angolans
make up 75% of Chevron's professional
and supervisory staff in the country.
Chevron is helping the community in Cabinda and the rest of Angola in many ways, not
just by providing thousands of well paid jobs,
but also by helping reduce poverty and spurring
economic growth in other ways as well.
The Angola Partnership initiative, a cooperative effort launched in 2002 to promote
peace and stability, and improve the country's education and health care infrastructure,
set up a micro lending bank called NovoBanco, in 2004.
Since opening, NovoBanco has made more
than $27 million of loans to more than 5,000
micro and small enterprises. Another part of
the initiative has provided seeds, tools and
food to approximately two million people
spread across six provinces.
Chevron expects to invest an additional $2.5 million each year through 2012 in
programs that are intended to help make
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Source: Oil and Gas Journal
Outside investment rolls into
Cabinda as scale of production rises
A
3
Trillion Cubic Feet
Economy
ngola is the third-biggest oil producer in Africa, after Nigeria and
Libya. With national production
rising to about 2 million barrels
per day this year, Cabinda has long
been the most important region for the country's petroleum industry.
Since the end of the civil war in 2002, the
government has been able to devote more
of the revenue from the oil industry toward
helping its citizens. Cabinda's local government keeps 10% of the income from local
production for its own projects, which include
programs to improve the health and education of the province's population.
Currently the bulk of the region's oil production comes from offshore platforms, in
the areas known as Block Zero and Block 14.
Block Zero is one of the country's most productive areas, pumping about 370,000 barrels per day in 2007.
Production from Block 14 is scheduled to
increase in the next few years. While daily
production levels at the Kuito field is declining, output from the Benguela, Belize, Lobito, Tomboco project (BBLT) was expected
to peak last year and the Tombua Landana
project will come on stream this year, adding
about 130,00 barrels per day by 2010.
Tombua Landana is an ambitious project
which includes the construction of one of the
tallest structures on the planet. At 474 meters (1,554 feet), most of that submerged, the
deepwater drilling rig is taller than the Sears
Building in Chicago and dwarfs the Eiffel
Tower.
The Angolan unit of Chevron Corp. of the
U.S. operates the Tombua Landana project
and has a 31% stake. Other partners in the
project include Sonangol, the Angolan national oil company, and ENI SpA of Italy,
both with 20% stakes.
Total investment in the project will be
more than $3 billion, which will include
more than $250 million of local content
spending. The project maximizes the use
of Angolan engineering, procurement,
2
local governments more efficient by improving their organizational and administrative skills, and to further reduce poverty by encouraging the growth of small and
medium-sized businesses.
As part of its investment in Cabinda,
Chevron is spending $2 million to help
fund the construction of a maritime water testing facility. The local government
and the Fishing Ministry are also contributing to the project, which will carry
out biological, chemical and heavy metal
testing of the sea water in the region.
For decades, most of the oil produced
in Cabinda came from offshore wells because of security concerns arising from the
civil strife and turmoil that had prevented investors from seeking more wells in onshore areas.
Now that peace has come to Angola,
more is being spent to identify promising
areas and to develop any interesting discoveries. One field, called Massambala-1,
was estimated last year to contain 170
million barrels of oil, more than five times
the amount originally estimated.
The Cabinda South block includes the Massambala field and others, including Coco,
Milho, Cevada and Soja, which mean coconut, corn, barley and soy in Portuguese.
The entire block is located within 50 kilometers
(31 miles) of the Malongo terminal, which
will make it easier to export its oil once production starts.
Roc Oil of Australia, with a 60% stake in
the Cabinda South block where Massambala1 is located, has already begun exploration
in other areas of the province. Sonangol owns
20% of the block, and Force Petroleum Ltd.
owns the remaining 20%.
Cabinda's people stand to gain from the
increase in onshore exploration, as well as from
the production offshore, as programs to hire
more workers from the region benefit the
province's economy, and as the decline of civil strife permits expatriate workers to mix
with the locals and further add to growth.
Training
Angolan
masters
etting Angola’s offshore petroleum resources out of the
seabed is hard enough, but exporting the crude oil and liquefied
petroleum gas is an even tougher
job. Safely docking huge tanker
ships at floating storage platforms
and onshore terminals, loading them,
and sending them on their way is
the work of skilled seamen called
mooring and loading masters. It
takes roughly ten years of work experience and training to become a
mooring or loading master, and few
Angolans have had the chance to
become certified.
That’s why Chevron is aiding the
“Angolanization” of the country’s
oil and gas industry by training Angolans to work on their tankers and
loading platforms. Under the program, Angolan nationals are given
the work placements and advanced
training to meet the internationally
recognized “Standards of Training,
Competence and Watchkeeping” criteria. With their STCW credentials,
these Angolans will be able to stand
proudly among the world’s most
qualified oil-industry professionals.
The three-phase training effort
starts with recruiting Angolans who
already have some shipping industry experience to work as loading
masters. As an assistant to the mooring master, the loading masters learn
the position by working on seagoing tankers and studying at a maritime academy to gain their STCW
qualification.
The next phase of the program
gives Angolans the chance to acquire
the experience to become loading
masters. These cadets gain their sea
legs by serving on oil tankers and
training vessels, and can also study
for the STCW certificate. At the Cape
Peninsular University of Technology in Cape Town, they can take the
examination to get a South African
maritime license. Some of these
cadets have already been hired to
support the program and operate
offshore loading platforms.
G
A totem of innovative extraction
Taking on the burning issue
n 1997 and 2001, oil-indutry scientists made a reInjection can consume millions of gallons of water,
markable discovery. Under the seas off the Angolan so practices that help maintain water quality are an improvince of Cabinda, they found the Tombua and Lan- portant part of the overall environmental commitment
dana oil and gas fields, which hold over 1 billion bar- made by the Tombua Landana partners. Most water
rels of crude oil. Perparing to draw from these deep un- used for injection will be “produced water”, found
dersea fields has been an enormous undertaking and mixed in naturally with – and contaminated by – the
a major engineering effort. Petroleum giant Chevron undersea oil and gas. The Tombua Landana project will
has linked up with global partners to meet the techni- recycle its produced water, injecting it back into the
cal challenges, and is training a workforce of Angolan underground reservoirs, helping to reduce discharges
nationals to apply worldof contaminated water inclass skills to the project.
to the surrounding ocean.
These oil and gas deThe facilities are also
posits, which rank among
designed to help protect
the world’s richest, will
air quality by avoiding
be tapped with one of
“flaring”, the practice of
the largest man-made
burning off the excess
structures in the world.
natural gas that is proThe Tombua Landana
duced while extracting oil.
Compliant Piled Tower
Instead of wastefully re– a massive lattice of
leasing its millions of
steel, anchored to the
pounds of CO2 into the
seabed and topped with
atmosphere, the gas will
a drilling and production
be processed and stored
platform that extends
in empty underground
out above the ocean surreservoirs. Later on, when
face – will pump up to
the natural-gas compo100,000 barrels of crude
nent of Tombua Landana
oil per day. Even among
is fully operational, the
the giant towers and
gas can be tapped and
platforms that already Cabinda’s Tombua and Landana deposits hold over a
sold – a win-win solution
dot the world’s oceans, billion barrels of oil, and will be tapped using some of the
for the atmosphere as well
the Tombua Landana largest man-made structures in the world
as the project’s bottom
structure is impressive.
line.
On land, the tower would stand 1,554 feet tall – over
Tombua Landana isn’t just an effort to devel500 feet taller than the Eiffel Tower, and almost 100 op natural resources. It’s about cultivating human
feet taller than the Empire State Building.
resources as well. The established Angolan peThe tower, only the fourth of its type yet built, will troleum industry training center in Malongo is runserve as a hub for extracting undersea oil and gas. At ning at capacity to supply qualified workers for
the surface, the platform will house control rooms to the oil and gas sector. To relieve the pressure on
manage drilling, processing and storage, while on the the Malongo facility, Chevron is sending some Anseafloor, networks of pipes and conduits will extend golan trainees to its deepwater training center in
from the tower’s base. Some pipes will carry the oil and Lafayette, Louisiana, where they will acquire the
gas out from the deposits underneath the seabed, while specialized skills that are used on deepwater rigs
others will be used to inject water into the subterranean in the Gulf of Mexico. Other Angolans are visitreservoirs. Injecting water into the deposits will increase ing and working on Gulf of Mexico deepwater plattheir pressure, allowing the wells to extract the most forms, gaining firsthand experience abroad and
oil possible from the reservoirs and helping to push the building the skills needed on Tombua Landana
thick crude oil up to the platform above the sea.
back at home.
he burning flares that used to be visible atop many to the new gas facility onshore in Cabinda. Chevron
oil wells, and can still be seen in some areas, are and partners are also building a natural gas liquefacfueled by natural gas, as oil producers dispose of an tion plant in a province near Cabinda that will permit
unwanted by-product in the cheapest way possible. the export of the gas.
About 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas are
The liquefied natural gas plant was announced in
burned in this way every year, equal to one-quarter of 2007, and construction has begun. It is forecast to process
all the gas used in the U.S. annually.
about 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day and to
Many countries now ban the practice, which spews produce about 5.2 million metric tons a year of LNG
tons of pollutants into the atmosphere every day and and related products.
is wasteful. Natural gas has
The TGPP, located
also become a valuable
offshore in the Takula
commodity and source of
field, stands in water
energy, encouraging oil
that is about 186 feet
companies around the
deep. The support
world to capture the gas
structure was built lofor sale.
cally, in Lobito in AnChevron and its partners
gola's nearby Benguela
in Cabinda's Block Zero oil
province, while the proproduction field, Sonangol,
cessing plant was built
Eni SpA and Total SA, rein South Korea by Samcently inaugurated the
sung Heavy Industries
Takula Gas Processing Plant
and then transported
(TGPP) to eliminate the
to the site.
need to burn off the gas and
The giant, four-stoto permit it to be processed,
ry facility will allow
stored and transported so
Chevron to meet Anthat it can either be sold or Natural gas has become an important commodity, so
golan environmental
used to generate electrici- capturing rather than releasing it is a priority
regulations that require
ty in Angola.
the reduction of polluThe Takula field, located in Area A of Block Zero, tion, and will also help contribute to the economic dehas been one of Angola's most productive areas. It was velopment of the country by providing another enerdiscovered in 1971, production started there in 1982, gy source, as well as export revenue.
and it is expected to keep producing until after the
“This project will provide more strength for the counyear 2025.
try's economy,” said Feliciano Toco, Vice-Governor of
“TGPP represents a major accomplishment for the Cabinda, while speaking at the inauguration ceremoArea A project as it will provide additional compres- ny. “It will provide resources for various social programs
sion and gas sweetening in Block Zero,” said Chevron already underway.”
Project Manager Bob King, referring to his company's
Chevron and its partners in Angola are already a malocal long-term Area A Gas Management Program, or jor funder of such programs in Cabinda and the rest
AAGM.
of the country, placing a particular emphasis on comThe AAGM consists of three parts, including the bating illiteracy and improving health care.
TGPP, the Cabinda Gas Plant and the Flare and Relief
Sonangol and the Angolan government have been
Modification project, which together will eliminate the working to reduce the burning of natural gas at oil
routine burning of natural gas in the area by permit- wells throughout the country, with the goal of cutting
ting the fuel to be collected and processed. The AAGM pollution and increasing revenue. Angola's booming
is expected to be completed this year.
economy also requires more energy, and the gas can
The TGPP can process approximately 100 million stan- also be used to produce electricity for homes, busidard cubic feet per day of gas, which will be delivered nesses and manufacturers.
T
PHOTO: CHEVRON
I
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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Friday, February 20, 2009
Cabinda
Turkey
Infrastructure development, educational programs and social welfare projects are bringing a greater quality of life to Cabindans. The previously
war-torn province is well on the way to eradicating the memory of conflict and to delivering a future with prospects to its inhabitants
ver the next few years the
people of Cabinda will enjoy
a huge improvement in many
different parts of the
province's infrastructure as
the government invests more and more
on roads, new buses and a new ferry, and
on water and sanitation.
The objective is to give residents of the
region a higher quality of life by giving
them easier access to clean water, improving their health through the construction and renovation of sewage systems and helping people and businesses
go about their daily lives by reducing
transport and telecommunications times
and costs.
The province is already about halfway
through a $190 million project to improve
272 kilometers (170 miles) of roads connecting the provincial capital of Cabinda City to other parts of the exclave and
to the frontier with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The provincial government is importing 152 new buses to take advantage of
the new roads and improve connections
between Cabinda City and other parts of
the area. More than 30 of the buses are
already on their way to Cabinda and the
rest will be delivered by the end of the
year.
Another road project will link Cabinda, which is cut off from the rest of Angola by the DRC, with the rest of the
country via a 20-km connecting road
that will include a bridge over the Zaire
river. The road will cost an estimated
$2.55 billion and is scheduled to be finished by October, 2012 and connect the
province to the town of Soyo, in Angola's Zaire province.
Transport to Soyo and the national
capital of Luanda will improve long before the bridge is finished, however. A new,
faster ferry will begin operation by the
end of the year, cutting travel times from
Cabinda to Soyo to one hour from three,
and to Luanda from 15 hours to six. The
new ship will carry almost four times as
many people as can fit on the ferry currently making the trip.
Cabinda already has a new airport,
which has been operating for a year. The
facility has a 2.5 km airport that can accommodate planes of all sizes, and now
handles more than 100 takeoff/landing
operations a day.
The airport already provides 60 direct
and 270 indirect jobs, and will provide
more as it grows. Future improvements
to the airport include an illumination
project that will permit nighttime operations and a new cargo facility.
The port of Cabinda is next in line for
improvements. A $100 million expansion
plan includes a nine-meter-deep maneuvering basin and an 80-meter access
channel that will allow ships carrying over
1,000 tons of cargo to use the port. The
new facilities will permit use of the port
to increase more quickly and provide new
employment opportunities. Communications between Cabinda and the rest of Angola have long been a problem for the
region, which is located about 200 km
from the capital. The national government
is working to resolve those difficulties by
installing a new system of satellite communications that will link together the
widespread regions of the country and permit faster transmission of voice, internet,
data, television and radio.
O
Rebuilding in a time of peace
Boosting the economy
through improved
infrastructure
The new ferry will bring
Cabindans closer to Angola
Ebo to cut
ferry
journey time
C
Construction of bridges and roads are top priorities for the Cabindan government, and will help boost regional trade flows
$2.55 billion
bridge to open
the road to
Luanda
ICAO gives
thumbs up to
airport
improvement
Cabinda’s distance to the rest of Angola is becoming less and
less of a problem through the many efforts by the provincial
and national governments to upgrade transportation links between the enclave and the other parts of the country, including improvements at the airport, the seaport, and the
purchase of a bigger, and faster ferry.
The most audacious, and by far the most expensive, project to bring Cabinda closer to Angola is for a $2.55 billion
bridge and roadway to link the two areas by land. The bridge
over the Zaire river will be about 20 kilometers (12 miles)
long, and a stretch of highway will complete the connection.
The bridge “will bring benefits to development, not just
for the province of Cabinda, but also for the region of Soyo
and the DRC,” said Jose Anibal Rocha, governor of the province.
“Cabinda will be more integrated with the rest of the country.”
Angolan and Cabindan officials have held meetings with
their counterparts from the Democratic Republic of Congo,
which separates the two parts of Angola, to decide on the
best route and the best combination of bridge/causeway/roadway to benefit the residents of the area on both countries.
Once a final decision on the project’s parameters is made,
a Chinese construction company, the China Road and Bridge
Corporation, will start the process of building the roadway,
which is planned to be finished by 2012.
Cabinda's government has been working to improve the province’s
economy by focusing on improving its transport infrastructure.
The recently renovated international airport is an excellent example of how those efforts are already having a positive effect
on people and businesses.
The renovations were completed in 2007, leaving Cabinda
with Angola’s second biggest aiport, with a runway 2,500 meters long and capable of handling planes as large as a Boeing
737.
The airport’s waiting room has been enlarged to handle up
to 300 passengers at peak hours, and baggage handling equipment has been modernized as well, helping make passengers’
transit through the facility faster and more comfortable.
New equipment has been installed in the control tower and
in security areas, making travelling from the airport safer. Officials from the International Civil Aviation Organization agree.
They recently inspected the airport, and gave a positive opinion of the improvements.
The airport is a big employer in Cabinda, providing 60 direct jobs and about 270 indirect positions. There are already
plans afoot for more enlargements and improvements, which
would mean even more work for Cabindans.
The next steps for the airport include lengthening and widening the runway, so it can accommodate even larger aircraft, and
by facilitating nighttime take-offs and landings.
abinda has long faced difficulties because of its distance from the rest of Angola.
The country’s central government is contributing to the efforts to improve transportation
between Cabinda and other
parts of Angola by buying a
new ferry boat called the Ebo,
which began operating at the
end of 2008.
The new ship’s turbine engines give it a maximum speed
of 42 knots, which will permit
it to make the trip between
Cabinda City and Soyo, in Angola’s Zaire province in one
hour, instead of the three hours
that the current ship on that
route takes. Zaire province is
the closest part of Angola to
Cabinda. The travel time between Cabinda and the national capital of Luanda will be reduced to six hours, from 15
now.
The Ebo is a much larger
ship than the Lueji, which is
the ferry on the route now. The
Ebo is 47 meters long and 13
meters wide. It can carry 370
people and cargo. The Lueji
only has capacity to carry 96
people.
“The Ebo is a modern, highspeed ship,” said Joao Pedro
Paxe, captain of the new ship.
“Our population is used to carrying merchandise with them
when they travel, and it’s always easier to take more kilos
on a ship than on a plane. So
when the Ebo starts operating,
it will more than meet those
needs.”
The Ebo will have two classes for travelers, Economic and
Executive. The trip between
Cabinda City and Soyo will cost
2,000 kwanzas in Economic
Class, and 3,000 kwanzas in
Executive Class. The trip to Luanda will cost 4,500 kwanzas
($60) in Economic and 6,000
kwanzas in Executive. The ship
was bought in Italy by Angola’s
Ministry of Transport, and the
purchase price includes a maintenance contract.
Port of Cabinda grows in capacity, demand and regional significance
odern, well-functioning transportation known within Angola and in the rest of the
infrastructure is vital to any economy. world. The final priority was to transform the
It speeds the movement of people and prod- port and help it attract new business by imucts from one place to another, reduces costs proving quality, cutting costs, reducing tranfor companies and individuals alike, and opens sit times and increasing security.
up new areas where businesses can expand
The port’s equipment and physical state,
and create more wealth and employment.
including its container-moving cranes and its
Angola’s central government and Cabin- pier, were deteriorated and needed much renda’s provincial government are both well ovation to bring them up to modern stanaware of this, and have been investing heav- dards. That work is well advanced, and should
ily for years to improve all the different facets be finished within the next two years.
of the country’s transportation systems.
The pier, when finished, will have capaciCabinda’s seaport has been one of the ty to handle five 12,000-ton ships at the
biggest beneficiaries of the increase in spend- same time. Five new cranes have been puring. Since new management took over the chased that can stack containers higher than
port in 2004, there has been a concentrated previously possible at the port, which will ineffort to renovate and modernstantly increase storage capacity,
Quality and
ize its equipment to make it
while also allowing faster and nimcheaper and more competitive efficiency are on bler movement of containers.
with other ports and forms of the rise as the
“Each of these machines has
Port of Cabinda the capacity to pile up five contransportation.
The new management, led by works to
tainers, pile up three rows of conDirector General Osvaldo Lobo modernize its
tainers, and pull a 31-ton condo Nascimento, didn’t just reno- services
tainer out of the third line,” said
vate the facility’s physical side,
port operations head Artur Ferthough. The port’s operators also worked to nandes Carvalho.
improve its administration, legal set-up, and
The port already has four workers who
its marketing and other efforts to gain more know how to operate the new loading cranes,
business.
which have been named after former work“The challenge was large, and there were ers at the port who have contributed outmany sticking points, because there were standing work, and a training program will
many problems and deficiencies that were built increase the number of operators.
into the company,” said do Nascimento.
Big improvements are also being carried
“Therefore, it was necessary to define prior- out on the port’s physical layout. A bigger,
ities.”
deeper maneuvering basin is being dredged,
Do Nascimento and his staffed identified which will be nine meters deep. That, comthree initial priorities. The first was to change bined with a new navigation canal that is eight
the attitude of the port’s employees, includ- meters deep, will permit bigger ships to use
ing bosses, regarding their work. The second the port, and speed their entry and exit.
was to promote the port, to make it better
The port’s cargo holding area is being en-
M
Upgrades at the Port of Cabinda have increased cargo movement by 70 percent
larged, which will further increase its storage
capacity. Cement silos and flour silos are being built in the holding area to add to the
type of products that can be efficiently moved
through the facility.
The holding area and piers will also benefit from the construction of a new electric
network that will provide power to the whole
area, and the addition of an Intranet communications network, all of which will further increase productivity and efficiency.
A properly functioning port requires more
than just modern equipment, of course. Efficient administration is also necessary, and
do Nascimento and his team haven’t ignored
that area. They’ve hired new people, increased
worker training, and changed the port’s legal structure as part of their strategic plan.
They’ve also developed a marketing plan intended to attract more business from areas
near Cabinda.
“We will continue to work not just to
maintain operations at the level of productivity that we have already reached,
but to unceasingly try to win business
from nearby areas that we don’t currently service, for instance from the petroleum sector in the north of Angola and the
Gulf of Guinea,” said do Nascimento.
Along with the management training pro-
gram, the port is actively working to improve
the education of all its workers. It recently
announced a plan to eliminate illiteracy among
them, and has started training instructors to
teach the employees that need such help to
read.
The classes for instructors, and later for students, will take place in facilities provided by
the port. Nine port employees who already
have a high level of education will take the
instructor training, and then when they’ve
completed the course will use their new knowledge to help their co-workers.
The improvements carried out to date by
the port’s management are already boosting
revenue and port movements. The facility
earned $1.75 million in the first half, 60% of
which is kept by the port, while the rest goes
into the state’s coffers.
Improvements to efficiency and productivity helped boost cargo movement, which
increased 70% in the first quarter of 2008
from the same period a year earlier. The port
moved 189,059 tons of cargo in the quarter,
compared with 108,080 a year earlier, and
moved 8171 containers, up from 6,921 in the
first quarter of 2007.
The revenue figure and the movement
figure should both increase in coming years,
as the port finishes up its ambitious improvement plan. With new equipment, a
bigger pier, the enlargements of the maneuvering basin, navigation channel, and
cargo holding areas, the port will become
more competitive and be able to gain new
business, while at the same time providing
more jobs, permitting the entry and exit of
more merchandise, and spurring economic growth in other ways that will help improve the lives of ordinary Cabindans.
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5
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Cabinda
Cabinda’s path to diversification: The Angolan government is taking steps to create a robust non-oil economy by focusing
on the agriculture, timber and industrial sectors, and producing more of what Cabindans need
The development of new, non-oil industries
From agriculture to industry,
Cabinda is diversifying
“We are entering a phase in which we want our farmers to increase production by using new technologies,” explains Director of Cabinda’s Dept of Agriculture & Rural Development Alector Araujo
abinda's farmers and the
provincial government are
working together to help boost
agricultural production so that
they can provide the region
with enough of the basic foods that are
the staples of Cabindan's diets.
The goal for the 2007/2008 farming
campaign, which ended in October, was
to increase output of Cabinda's 38,000
family farms to 48,592 tons of foods, including banana, mandioca, peanuts, corn,
macunde beans and sweet potatoes, from
the 37,498 tons produced in the previous year’s harvest.
“Our ambition is for our family agricultural sector to increase its production
levels,” said Alector Araujo, director of
the regional government's Department of
Agriculture and Rural Development. “We're
entering a phase in which we want farmers to increase production by using new
technologies.”
Previous years' efforts to boost output
have already helped, and Cabinda now produces surpluses of mandioca, banana and
ginguba, which are exported. The region
is also self-sufficient in peanut production, and all the positives results are the
fruit of the success of government programs to encourage their cultivation.
The production of mandioca is a special success because the plant was nearly wiped out in recent years by disease.
The government helped introduce new
varieties of the plant, enabling the gratifying comeback of the crop.
“It was important to understand the eat-
C
ing habits of the people of Cabinda,” said to Brazil to learn their greenhouse proAraujo. “The staple foods of our popula- duction techniques, to help with this eftion are mandioca, banana, peanut and ma- fort. A proposed liquefied natural gas
cunde beans. During the years of these plant would also boost demand for loprograms the government has tried to reach cal produce.
a stable production of these crops because
“We're speaking with big companies
they're the basis of the people's diets.”
that need a regular supply, but unforThe government reaches out to help tunately we're still at a phase where we
farmers in the rural parts of the country can't ensure regular deliveries,” explained
through Agrarian Development
Araujo, adding that the govThe Angolan
Stations, which offer techniernment is so concerned about
cal advice on how to increase government has this that it just bought 20
production and improve the reached out to
greenhouses to help provide a
farmers in rural solution.
quality of crops.
Four new stations are being areas to stabilize
Now that Cabinda is close to
build around the province. basic crop
producing enough food for the
Three have already been fin- production
local population, other agriculished, in Buco Zau, Cacongo,
tural projects are starting. Conand another one in Belize. The new sta- struction of a palm oil refining and bottions cost 11 million kwanzas ($146,000) tling plant has already begun, and palm trees
to build and equip, and each has a ware- are being planted to provide supplies.
house to hold equipment, seeds, fertilizThe local and national governments
er and other items.
have various programs to help the farmThe region is working to produce other ers increase production. The national govcrops, some for local consumption and some ernment has for years provided farmers
for export. Cabinda already grows pineap- throughout the country with micro-credples for export, though increasing such ex- its to help them acquire equipment and
ports are difficult at the moment because seeds, and the local government recentof a lack of transport infrastructure.
ly started a similar program for Cabinda's
A better strategy now is to produce coffee farmers.
vegetables for the nearby Chevron oil
Since 2007, more than 22,000 farmers
camp at Malongo, said Araujo. Last year from around the country have formed cothe camp bought produce worth $400,000 operatives to benefit from micro-credit proand that figure can be increased once grams. The programs lend between $100
more regular production and delivery can and $1,500 to the cooperatives, which conbe arranged.
sist of at least seven farmers each.
The regional government is buying
Over $6 million has already been lent
greenhouses, and has sent a technician to buy farming equipment, of which more
Foreign partners and new industries
abinda's small but growing industrial sector is set to gain an important
new facility within a few years when the
construction of the first phase of the Futila Industrial Park, located on a plateau
about 35 kilometers north of Cabinda City,
is finished.
The provincial government hopes the
park will attract factories that will help
contribute to reducing Cabinda's dependence on imported goods, while at
the same time creating good jobs and
spurring job training programs for local
residents. The first phase is expected to
create 2,000 new positions and attract
more than 60 companies.
The plan to build the park was first
hatched 10 years ago, though it failed
to move forward until the funding for Futila Industrial Park will house Cabinda’s rapidly expanding industrial sector
the $37 million first phase materialized
last year. The national government and the provincial governIn later phases chemical companies and other businesses tied to
ment are both contributing financing for the project.
Cabinda's petroleum industry are also expected to make use of FuThe work of clearing about 110 hectares of land for the first tila's facilities. The site, which is planned to eventually expand to
phase has been finished, and now the area is being leveled and occupy 2,345 hectares, was chosen partly because of its proximity
the ground being prepared for the final stage of the park's de- to Chevron Corp.'s Malongo oil camp.
velopment, the construction of infrastructure and buildings.
Malongo is an oil terminal that in the past was completely closed
Roads, electrical lines, a natural gas distribution network and off to the surrounding territory and totally self sufficient in terms
a water system will be built to supply the companies setting up of supplies. The camp has begun to buy some supplies locally, inin the park with basic needs. Later phases of growth could see cluding fresh fruits and vegetables.
the park expanding to as many as 2,345 hectares.
The agency that is in charge of the development of Futila
The project is off to a good start and construction should be hopes that the companies operating within Malongo will start
finished within about three years, according to Geraldo Ndubo to buy some supplies from the businesses that set up operaPaulo, Director of the province's Department of Industry, Trade, tions at the industrial park.
Hotels and Tourism.
Some of the companies that are currently based inside MaThe plan is for companies in construction supply and food longo should take advantage of the return of peace to Cabinprocessing to be among the first businesses to occupy the da to relocate to Futila, or open new operations there, in ornew park. The government hopes to see sawmills, brick and der to benefit from the greater space available, said Joao Martile makers, plastics companies and cement makers in the first tins, a member of the Futila agency.
wave of companies.
“There are many American companies working in Cabinda in the
The goal is for the businesses to make an immediate im- petroleum industry,” Martins said. “They're aware of this region's
pact on Cabinda's economy by supplying basic necessities to potential in terms of natural resources, and that should get them
residents and much needed supplies for the booming con- interested in investing more in the area.”
struction industry in the region.
Foreign companies wishing to take part in the construction of a
The industries setting up at the park will take as much ad- new gas pipeline from Cabinda to other parts of Angola should alvantage as possible of local resources that in the past might have so be attracted to the park. The pipeline will permit natural gas that
gone to waste, with the intention of producing more supplies had previously gone to waste to be used as an energy source by Anand materials within the province and cutting costly imports.
golan industrial companies.
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than $700,000 has already been repaid.
The program has been extended to all
the provinces in Angola, with 1,078 Cabindan farmers involved.
Another project sponsored by the government is importing cattle into the
province. In October of last year, 1,000
head of cattle arrived in the region from
the Democratic Republic of Congo, boosting the total number of cattle in Cabinda to about 2,400.
A previous attempt to introduce more
cattle to the region was unsuccessful
because the animals came from southern Angola, where the climactic conditions are different from in Cabinda. The
Congolose cattle are expected to fare
better because they're more accustomed
to the local weather.
An official
boost for
fisheries
and
factories
A
ngola's central government is
determined to increase agricultural output, and is also working on several fronts to boost the
country's fishing catch as well, to
help people become more self-sufficient for their food supply.
In Cabinda that has meant the
donation of 20 boats over the
past two years to fishing cooperatives in the province, along
with other equipment including
25 stern engines, 12 central engines, 17 canoes and large numbers of nets.
The local fishermen are limited in where they can fish because of the prevalence of oil
platforms off Cabinda's coast.
The government gave the cooperatives the boats and engines so
they could travel farther and carry more fish, said Alector Araujo, director of the regional government's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“Right now the main source
of revenue for the government
is oil, and in an area where we
have fishing and oil production,
it's natural that oil be the priority,” he said. “Today the supply of fish at the beach is much
more than a few years ago because the new boats can carry
four or five tons of fish.”
Cabindan fisherman will also
benefit from the opening of two
ice factories, one in Cabinda City
and the other in Cacongo, as well
as from a series of engine repair
shops that will be built along the
coast to help boats suffering from
mechanical difficulties.
The delivery of canoes and
fishing nets will help increase the
province's fishing catch by permitting fishermen in Cabinda's interior to exploit the provinces
rivers and lakes, Araujo said.
Cabinda’s number two industry
imber is Cabinda's second biggest industry
after oil, and after years of
neglect because of the civil turmoil that punished the
province until just a few
years ago, the government
and private banks are starting to lend to companies
in the sector to increase
production.
Angola's rapidly growing economy, which expanded at a real pace of
more than 16% in 2007,
has spurred demand for
wood amid the country’s
extended rebuilding program following the end in
2002 of the civil war.
“The case for investing
in the timber sector is irresistible because wood is
needed for all the construction going on around
the country,” said Herculano Abil di Amori, owner Banks are beginning to finance the expansion of Cabinda’s
of the biggest saw mill in timber industry
Cabinda.
Angola and its former exMore investments in
Cabinda's timber induscolonial ruler, Portugal, equipment are needed to try is undercapitalized
signed an agreement to help help the industry grow be- partly because of the hispromote the African coun- cause of a new law that re- torical reluctance of banks
try's timber industry in 2007, quires exported wood prod- to finance investment.
with a special emphasis on ucts to have undergone at That situation is slowly imCabinda. The province will least some processing with- proving, said sawmill ownbecome an important sup- in the country, said Alector er di Amori. In the past his
port for the timber induscompany had to export
The timber industry
try in the rest of Angola, acwood to raise funds for
is seeking
cording to the terms of the
investment, now comagreement.
investments for new mercial banks are beginThe Banco de Desenequipment to export ning to step in as they see
volvimento de Angola, or
the chance to make a profwood products
BDA, a state-owned lender
it, he said.
set up in 2006 to help fi- Araujo, director of the reAs part of its program
nance private businesses, gional government's De- to encourage the growth
loaned money to a com- partment of Agriculture and of the lumber industry, the
pany called So Cargas last Rural Development.
provincial government is
year to buy two new in“According to the new boosting efforts to imdustrial saws that will per- law, you can't have wood prove the health of Cabinmit the company to in- production without trans- da's forests. Areas that had
crease output and quality forming it, which means the previously been deforestand to satisfy more of its government can only grant ed are being replanted, ofcustomers' needs.
concessions to companies ten with eucalyptus trees.
Last August,the BDA that have a sawmill so that
Eucalyptus is a fastmade another loan, of about we're not just exporting growing plant, so it will
$200,000, to a furniture logs,” Araujo said.
help to quickly replenish
maker. That money is also
Any investing in Cabin- the province's stock of
being used to buy new da's timber sector also needs trees. New plantations near
equipment, including saws, to be done under condi- Cabinda City are growing
other wood-working ma- tions that ensure that the a variety of eucalyptus that
chinery, and a generator to production of wood from is better suited to the lohelp the company increase the region is sustainable, cal climate, after previous
its productivity and its out- and felling without refor- efforts with trees from the
put, according to owner Luis estation will not be allowed, southern part of Angola
Gomes Sambo.
he added.
were unsuccessful.
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CABINDA nytsab pp5-8.qxd
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Página 2
Friday, February 20, 2009
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Cabinda
IN BRIEF
Education leads to progress
Halls of learning open wide
In Cabinda, education is
drawing a growing crowd
as improvements show posAssociation helps
disabled veterans
After Angola's long civil conflict, the country has
many former soldiers with
disabilities that the government is working to reintegrate into civil society.
The National Association of
Angolese Handicapped is
setting up various programs
that will provide work for
this group of people.
The Association, known
as ANDA, recently opened
a sewing shop in the
province that will provide
jobs for 25 people. The
workshop is equipped with
nine sewing machines, including an industrial sewing
machine that will be used
to make shirts and Africanstyle clothing for women.
Another cooperative project has provided 10 taxis
that will be used by two
people each, providing another 20 jobs for former
soldiers. ANDA recently
opened a carpentry workshop and a sawmill, creating still more employment
in Cabinda for the handicapped.
Building new
classrooms
Cabinda's regional government has been very actively increasing the number of schools and classrooms available for the
province's students, and at
the same time is working
to improve the facilities already in use.
One construction project
is in the process of building more than 170 new
classrooms spread around
the provincial capital of
Cabinda City and its nearby townships. The classes are
expected to be available for
use this year.
The rooms will replace
other, inadequate, facilities
that are currently being
used to hold classes, including church chapels and
other spaces. Builders have
already this year finished
construction of two new
schools in the region, one
with 15 classrooms and the
other with 24, which will
be used for primary and
secondary level classes.
itive results among students
who are eager to join a globalized, professional world
he educational system in
Cabinda has made great strides
over the past six years. The
government has recognized
the importance to the country's future and its economy of improving the educational system still more at
all levels, and is committed to increasing education spending, according to
Dr. Joao Chissina Mabiala, Cabinda's
Provincial Education Director.
“We want to guarantee an adequate education that will give all citizens the chance
to help develop the country,” said Mabiala.
The government has plans to “improve the
system in terms of quality, teacher competence and social help for students.”
The program of social help is especially important for the youngest students,
and it's here where the government has
made a special effort. Of the approximately 130,000 students in the primary
education system, about 89,000 participate in various aid programs.
The children in the programs get milk
and nutritious cookies every day. They also receive two school uniforms and a pair
of sandals per year, as well as a backpack
containing six notebooks, pens, pencils
and a pencil sharpener.
The next step will be to provide an
oral hygiene kit. That program is being
prepared right now and will provide every
child in school with a tooth brush, tooth
paste and a pamphlet explaining to children what they need to do to take care
of their teeth.
Even without all those programs, the situation for primary education has improved
tremendously since the end of the war. The
number of students in Cabinda, including at the secondary and adult level, has
risen to 150,000, from 70,000 in 2002.
In that same year, the region needed 400
more classrooms than it had, a figure that
was cut to 100 this year and will be reduced to 50 next year as new schools are
built and existing facilities are expanded.
Between the end of the war, the expansion of facilities and the number of
teachers at work, the government has
been able to slowly raise the number of
years primary students go to classes. Primary education now goes through the
sixth grade, instead of the fourth grade,
and the plan is to further extend that as
it becomes workable.
Teachers have also benefited from the
reforms to the education system. Their
salary has tripled since 2002, and the total number of instructors has also increased, to 4,200 from 3,600 six years
ago. Training programs, for teachers and
administrators, have improved, helping
their students receive a better education
as well.
The goal is to give teachers and administrators more up-to-date training so
they can better meet the new realities of
the needs of their students, Mabiala said.
The regional government is also working on expanding the educational possibilities for the province’s residents. Work
has already begun on an ambitious plan
to build a 90-hectare university campus
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Two new professional centers will soon be inaugurated in the province in addition to a new university engineering faculty
south of the provincial capital, with the
first brick laid in August of 2007 by Public Works Minister Francisco Higino
Carneiro.
The university complex will encompass
10 colleges, recreational areas, student
residences and will even boast a maritime
wildlife reserve. The campus's main building will house administrative offices, the
central library and the main lecture hall.
The university project is for the long term,
but the government has more immediate
plans that are already helping students starting from primary school through to the level of technical preparation for employment
purposes. One technical school that opened
recently is training workers for the country's hugely important oil industry and the
national oil company, Sonangol.
The new school “will teach courses as-
sociated with chemistry to meet the demand from the oil sector,” said Mabiala.
“We've also had direct cooperative efforts
with Sonangol regarding the curriculum
for the technicians we train.”
Also, 40 students from Cabinda have
been awarded scholarships to study in Cuba this year, most of them in the faculty
of medicine given the current shortage of
physicians in the province.
Interview with Joao Chissina Mabiala
‘By 2015, we want all children to be within the school system’
Are there more resources available for education now that there is peace and stability
in Cabinda?
Yes, peace has brought great benefits because, though Cabinda hadn't been one
of the provinces most affected by the armed
conflict, the country's resources were being used up at the national level. It's normal in that situation for other areas of the
country to have limited resources because
they're being used for defense spending.
After signing the peace agreements,
there have been six years in which we
have begun to receive a bigger part of
the budget for the area that I direct.
We've begun to build more infrastructure, in the form of schools, etc. Before
the signing of the agreements, Cabinda had about 245 schools, with 966
classrooms. By 2004 we already had 278
schools with 1,249 classrooms.
ture, fishing, the environment etc.
What are your goals for the future for education, and how soon do you expect to achieve
them?
Our general goals are the same as in the
rest of the country. By 2015 we want all
children, at a national level, to be within
the school system. We're working hard to
eliminate illiteracy, which is our main objective.
At this time we have obligatory schooling up until sixth grade, and our goal
is to lengthen that period by 2015.
Cabinda is a province with oil and wood,
and also with good land. We have to invest to improve other parts of the economy, and that will be possible if we use
the income from oil to educate people
to develop other areas such as agricul-
Can you give us some recent figures on the
number of teachers and students?
Our system is divided into four parts.
The primary cycle goes from first through
sixth grades and has 131,000 children in
it. Then we have the second cycle, which
goes from seventh through ninth grades,
and the third cycle goes from tenth
through twelfth or thirteenth grades, depending on which course the student is
following. There's a total of 150,000
students in the system.
We have close to 4,170 teachers, which
is a sufficient number for the province,
though some of them could use more
training, especially in technical areas.
We have technical schools that provide
various training courses, but we don't
Joao Chissina Mabiala
Provincial Director of Education
have a lot of people that want to work
for us, possibly because big companies
are offering the graduates of those
schools better salaries.
Nevertheless, we're confident that this
problem can be resolved soon because
we've already seen the return to the
province of many young people who
went abroad for higher level educations
in many different areas.
At the moment we have almost 500
people with government grants who are
studying for degrees, including Masters
and Doctorates, in countries such as Portugal, the U.S., Namibia and Spain. Our
biggest difficulty at the moment is finding teachers trained in engineering and
other technological areas.
Are there local programs to train teachers?
The country is in the process of reforming its educational system based on
a series of international conventions and
on decisions made by our own government. The reforms began in 2000 for professional and technical training and have
since been extended to the primary and
secondary school systems.
All of this requires changes to the curricula and the teaching programs, and
the people who carry out the changes
are of course the teachers. That is why
it's so important for them to be prepared
for new challenges and that's why we've
started short-, medium- and long-term
training programs.
There are frequent seminars to train
teachers and school directors and provincial directors and all the other people involved in this system.
New medical clinics are kept busy
he people of Cabinda are seeing their living standards improve every day, as the
government dedicates more and more of the
money it gets from the region's oil industry
on basic requirements such as health care.
A new hospital was opened last August,
equipped with $6 million in the latest technology and specializing in cardiology, diabetes,
blood analysis and other ailments affecting
Cabindans. The new facility will spare people from the region a trip to the national capital of Luanda, or further, for many treatments.
The new hospital “shows the path followed
by the government to improve the lives of
the people,” said Jose Anibal Lopes Rocha,
Cabinda's governor, at the opening ceremony. “It's a clear indication of how the money from the oil taxes are being spent.”
As in other areas, the region's children are
a special focus of the increased spending. A
vaccination program inoculated more than
130,000 little ones against polio in May and
June. The kids also received a vitamin A supplement and an anti-parasite medicine while
getting the shots.
A program administered jointly by the education and health departments will treat
90,000 school children between the ages of
five and 14 for parasites this year. In 2007,
the program treated 87,000 kids. The children will receive a drug called Albendazol,
which will help rid them of the pests that can
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Residents of Cabinda have already begun to enjoy the benefits of improved healthcare
gravely affect their health and their ability to
learn.
The government has begun to acquire mobile health care clinics that will also help improve the health of the region's youngest residents. The units will travel from school to
school to do check-ups, diagnose illnesses,
and aid in the prevention of malaria and parasites.
A program to vaccinate people of all ages
a face lift and new equipment and will specialize in pediatrics and maternity care, as well
as working general medicine and AIDS treatment. The facility has a staff of five doctors
and 32 nurses. A new hospital is also under
construction in Buco Zau, which will be
equipped with the most modern technology.
New clinics have been opened in the Massabi and Sanga Planicie areas. The Massabi facility has 25 beds, three nurses and can carry out clinical analyses that preClinics receive
viously weren't available in the
increased funding area. The people of Sanga Planifor vitamin
cie have gained a facility with a
supplements and maternity ward and a vaccination
clinic that will improve the health
essential
and the lives of the local popuimmunizations
lation.
against polio and malaria was recently beOne indication of the improvement in
gun by Chevron. The project has a budget of health care in recent years is the fact that
$1.27 million and is aimed at residents of the no new cases of leprosy have been reregion's rural areas. The drugs will be ad- ported since 2005, according to the coorministered by mobile clinics to make it easi- dinator for public health in the regional
er to reach the most isolated residents.
government, Fuete Henry da Costa.
The rest of the population is also benefitThe success of the region's leprosy proing from the increase in spending, of course. gram can be attributed to the residents of
In addition to the new hospital, an older hos- the region taking advantage of all the new
pital has been renovated and new clinics are health care facilities being offered, he said.
being opened up around the province that The region's leprosy program currently
will bring doctors and treatment closer to all manages 35 people who suffer from the
Cabindans.
disease, who are being treated on an outThe 40-bed hospital at Cacongo received patient basis.
CABINDA nytsab pp5-8.qxd
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Friday, February 20, 2009
Página 3
7
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Cabinda
abinda, with its sandy beaches, lush forests and abundant, exotic wildlife, has huge tourism potential. The
local government is already promoting the province as
a destination and is preparing to spend more on the infrastructure that is needed to attract visitors.
The region's biggest tourist attraction is the Mayombe
forest and the gorilla population that lives there. The
government has plans to develop parts of the forest and
make it more hospitable for visitors and more productive for residents, all in an environmentally sound way.
“Mayombe is being protected and we're even building a tourist center in the heart of the forest that will
include a mini-hydroelectric plant to produce energy for
the population, and a resort that will give tourists the
chance to come in direct contact with nature and appreciate its beauty,” said the region's governor, Jose Anibal Lopes Rocha.
Mayombe is one of the largest animal and plant reserves on the planet, second in size only to the Amazon. It has many species of rare and valuable trees, as
well as an animal population that includes gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants and parrots.
Cabinda's beaches are another part of the region's
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Mayombe is the secondlargest nature reserve on the
planet after the Amazon
many attractions. Mandarim beach is a popular spot
for bathers and sport fishermen, and for campers and
canoists as well. Landana is a beautiful, clean sandy
beach where tourists and locals alike gather at the
area's bars and restaurants.
Futila beach is close to the oil installations of Malongo, and so attracts many of the expatriates who
work there. Malongo is one of the region's more developed beaches, with restaurants, bars and suites
available for bathers.
The regional and national governments are committed to improving Cabinda's infrastructure to benefit
tourists and residents alike. The budget for building and
improving airports, highways, ports and other projects
has more than tripled in recent years, rising to $250 million this year, from $72 million not long ago, according
to Rocha.
The government is also promoting the region in other countries. Angola had a pavilion at the Zaragoza International Exhibition held last year in Zaragoza, Spain.
The focus of that expo was water, and it included representations of Bakama dancers from Cabinda.
Bakama ritual dancers wear masks and are present at
many Cabindan festivals. They represent spirits that are
a link between the worlds of the living and the dead,
and were included in the Zaragoza Expo because of their
ecological background, in the sense that the spirits are
said to interact with plants and animals without caus-
ing them any harm, and because the dancers' costumes
are partly made of biodegradable banana leaves.
As part of a growing focus on Cabindan culture, the
local government is investing in the renovation of the
Cabinda Regional Museum. Among the museum's many
exhibits are displays of typical clothing, jewelry, household items, medicine, tools and weapons. The museum
is also one of the most important centers for the study
of Cabinda's rich oral history tradition.
Although the tourism industry can't hope to equal
the importance to the regional economy of the oil industry, it is growing and employing more and more
people. In 2006 the tourism sector's sales rose to 39
million kwanzas ($518,000), with 12 million of that
amount coming from hotels.
The region of Cabinda already benefits from a part of
the revenue from its oil wealth. A proportion of the money the oil industry generates stays in the region to fund
the local budget. The government is wisely dedicating
some of that money to improving Cabinda's tourism industry, in an effort that will attract more and more visitors, whose spending will boost employment and spur
the region's economic growth.
Dancing with the Bakamas
Performance art
Cabinda’s unique cultural heritage fascinates and intrigues with its mysticism,
celebratory spirit and deep sense of ritual that serves as spiritual guidance
abinda’s cultural heritage is profound but not widely known beyond Angola’s borders. For the
inhabitants of the Congo River
delta enclave, the traditional performers known as Bakamas are an essential part of how Cabindan communities
commemorate important events. Appearing
to help Cabindans mourn, celebrate or show
respect, the Bakamas perform ritual dances
while wearing special garments, decorations
and masks. While their true identity and hidden rituals are a closely-guarded secret, it
is clear that the Bakamas are an essential
part of the cultural and spiritual life of
Cabinda’s people.
As worshippers of Lusunzi – an invisible
deity that protects the people’s virtue and
purity – Bakamas are honored as guardians
of the community’s moral values. Cabindans
believe that Bakamas intercede between the
people and the gods, reconciling the living
and the dead and combating evil spirits.
These beliefs are most prevalent in southern Cabinda, where the villages of Tchizo,
Ngoyo, Povo Grande, Tchinzazi, and Susso
are home to the strongest Bakama traditions.
While getting ready to perform, the Bakamas seclude themselves to maintain their
secret rituals. For five days before a dance,
the Bakamas will not eat food prepared by
a woman, and they stay away from their
families. The preparations for the performance are carried out in secret, in a hidden
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place where others are not admitted. Thus,
their identities as Bakamas are kept hidden
from the community, and the roles they
play are a mystery even to their own kin.
In costume, Bakamas hide their faces
with rough-hewn and brightly painted wooden masks, wrapped in layers of colorful fabric, and cover their bodies with garlands of
dried banana leaves. The leaves are burnt
after every appearance, and the masks and
wrappings are hidden deep inside the forest. Traditional Cabindan beliefs hold that
anyone who tries to find them will go blind.
When they do appear in public, Bakamas
mark significant moments in the life of individual Cabindans and their families. Bakamas dance to give thanks for good times,
like the investiture of a new chief or to consecrate a new building, and to note the bad
times, such as natural disasters, illness, or
death.
At the event, a group of Bakamas will typically include nine or twelve members, varying their numbers and roles according to
the nature of the celebration. While the
Bakamas themselves lead the dance, with
each masked dancer led by a guide, supporters sing along and keep time. African
drums, made from tree trunks and covered
with animal skins, set the beat.
The roles taken by the dancers, called
zindunga, offer a glimpse into the surprisingly nuanced traditional Cabindan view of
human nature and psychology. Many connote different facets of authority, wisdom
and knowledge. Mabobolo is the head
dancer, the leader of the Bakamas, who carries a walking stick and wears a cap to show
his superiority over the others. Makaia
Makonde-Konde acts as a devil, becoming
enraged during the dance seemingly without reason, and his eyes are painted in mismatched colors. Vanha Nsi gives commands
that must be obeyed, and has the power to
twist the mouths of any who dare to resist
his orders. Matona Mambuambu Kumbukutu is also an authority figure, a strong
man who acts as a police officer in times
of peace and an army commander in times
of war. During the performance, he moves
the most of all the dancers, lurching at the
spectators and brandishing a wooden rifle
and a javelin.
Other roles taken by the Bakamas reflect
less strident realities of nature and human
life. Tchilamba represents a plant that grows
without roots, while Mbenge Meso is a redeyed drunk. The mask worn by Duengie
Meso makes it appear as if his eyes are
closed, but in fact he is omniscient, seeing
and noting each and all. Mampana, the
leopard, has just snuck into the chicken
coop to steal a feather from the rooster’s
tail, which he fixes to the forehead of his
mask. Bevolumuana Benvo is a calm, respectful character in a colorful mask, who
advises against anger. N’Temndekele, meanwhile, reminds viewers of the cycle of growth
and decay, telling adults to respect the
young as they will someday replace them.
A typical Bakama costume and mask, shown above, with garlands of dried banana leaves
Province to co-host Cup of African Nations A preserved nature-lover’s paradise
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A
abinda will be one of four Angolan cities that be housed in separate facilities, similar to an Olympic
will host the finals of the CAN2010 African Na- village. That arrangement was already successfully
tions Championship football tournament in 2010, used for the athletes who came to Cabinda for the
which will bring together national teams, their fans Afrobasket 2007 competition, and the African handand journalists from all over the continent to en- ball tournament in January of last year.
joy this important international sporting event.
The construction program, and the influx of
The championship will give Cabinda an excellent tourism, will help spur the local economy, which is
opportunity to increase the world's awareness of heavily dependent on oil at the moment. The chamwhat the region has to offer in terms of art, cul- pionship coincides with, and will help boost, a govture and travel, said Jose Anibal Lopes Rocha, gov- ernment effort to attract more tourism to the reernor of the province.
gion and diversify sources of growth.
“This is our moment
The tourism industry
to show the world our
in Cabinda currently
great potential, and for
employs more than
tourists to see our
1,000 people, spread
uniqueness,” he said. “It
out through 46 differcan open a door
ent businesses, includthrough which foreigning three existing hotels,
ers will feel attracted to
13 hostels, six other
Cabinda as a result of
lodging establishments,
having contact with its
four tourist complexes,
offerings in the field of
13 restaurants and sevart, traditions and
en other tourist service
tourism.”
companies.
A major contruction
Residents of Cabinda
plan includes a new,
will benefit in other
20,000-seat stadium
ways as well. They'll be
which will have special
able to use the facilities
seating sections for The country is improving infrastructure to accommodate
being built for CAN2010
VIPs, journalists and the the influx of tourists for the 2010 African Cup
once the competition is
handicapped. The plan
over and young people,
also has a program to increase and improve Cabin- low-income Cabindans and injured war veterans
da's hotel offerings.
will have special access to reduced-price tickets to
The region offers about 280 hotel rooms now, see matches.
and that figure is planned to rise to 450 rooms by
Inspectors from the African Confederation of Footthe start of the championship. Three new hotels are ball recently visited Angola to evaluate the preparabeing built, which will have three or four stars.
tions for the tournament. They were generally enJust this October, the Cabinda provincial gov- couraged by what they found, though they noted
ernment's head of Industry, Trade, Hostelry and some delays in Cabinda due to the delays of delivTourism, Geraldo Ndubo Paulo, guaranteed the re- eries of construction supplies. Those delays are now
gion's hotels will be prepared to welcome and house being overcome, construction is moving forward and
the tourists who come for the matches.
the province's stadium, hotels and other tourist inThe athletes, trainers and other team staff will frastructure will all be ready on time for the event.
ngola’s rugged deserts, thick forests, high moun- the Angolan coast, they have found not only comtains and other unique land environments have mon short-beaked and long-beaked dolphins, but
long attracted interest from nature lovers and envi- lesser-known species of bottlenose, spinner, striped and
ronmental researchers. However, the recently forged spotted dolphins.
peace has allowed additional investigation into the
The shallow Angolan coastal shelf is also a breedocean environments that flourish beyond Angola’s ing ground for humpback and Bryde’s whales, where
long South Atlantic coastline. The seas off the north- they raise their calves until they are strong enough to
ern province of Cabinda, in the Congo Delta region, venture out into the deeper waters. Short-finned piare particularly rich in nutrients and home to an as- lot whales are frequently spotted in the warm seas off
tonishing variety of marine life. Today, scientists are of Angola, along with their long-finned cousins that
starting to record the diversity of species present were previously thought to stay closer to cooler waalong the Angolan coast,
ters. Killer whales, more
and developing proaccurately known as orgrams to conserve them.
cas, are only occasionalUnder the waves, as
ly seen in Angolan shalon land, areas where diflows and may travel for
ferent habitats coexist in
hundreds of miles in
close proximity are fresearch of food. Beaked
quently home to the
whales are more mystegreatest variety of
rious and difficult to
wildlife. Angola’s coast
identify, though they
is one such place, where
have been sighted at the
the warmer, shallower
extraordinary depths of
seas along the contithe Congo Canyon where
nental shelf give way to
they make their home.
undersea slopes and cliffs
Meanwhile,
on
that slope down to deepCabinda’s shores, an
er and colder waters.
even rarer find has been
Where the mighty Con- Many types of dolphins can be seen in the waters off
made: a population of
go meets the sea, the riv- Cabinda’s shores, including lesser-known species
Olive Ridley sea turtles
er has carved an underhas been discovered
sea canyon over a mile deep into the ocean floor, ex- nesting on Malongo beach. This opportunity to study
tending some 125 miles out from the coastline.
the breeding habits of an internationally-listed enDolphins are commonly seen in Angolan waters. These dangered species is being taken up by Environment
famously friendly and inquisitive marine mammals Ministry scientists and researchers from Chevron.
can be found in the open ocean, but prefer the shal- To reduce the threat to the turtles, the research prolows close to the coast, where reefs and beds of sea- ject has partnered with local fishermen who are a
grass harbor the small fish, crustaceans and squid that deep well of untapped knowledge about ocean
make up the bulk of their diet. Different species of fauna and who can take a leadership role in indolphins will often mingle in large groups and are dif- creasing awareness among the community. This
ficult to distinguish from one another by sight, so re- effort to tag, track and protect the vulnerable tursearchers have had to carry out genetic studies to tles has already identified 700 nests and observed
more accurately estimate dolphin populations. Along 5,300 hatchlings since the project began.
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Friday, February 20, 2009