Dumilde de Chagas Simões Rangel, Governor of Benguela, sees the potential in his province and appeals to the private sector to spur development

One of the most remarkable things about the Angolan province of Benguela, says its popular governor Dumilde de Chagas Simões Rangel, is its geographical location. "It is situated on the coast in the southern-central part of the country and it is a province crossed by virtually all the main routes from the south. So roads from South Africa, Huila province, Bie and Huambo run through our province. Roads from Namibe also run through Benguela leading to Luanda."
And most of those routes find their way sooner or later to the province’s Port Lobito, which is one of the country’s most active deep-water ports and "is the most important in Portuguese Western Africa, some 1,300 kilometers (815 miles) of coast," notes governor Rangel, who is equally proud of Benguela’s railway system and its function as a means of distribution of goods arriving at Port Lobito.
"This railway is important because the port has a huge working capacity of 1,300 metric tons of goods-movement per day. It also has container storage with a capacity of about 100 containers with complete facilities, including virtually unlimited container parking space. The port is open 24 hours a day without any problem or difficulty, making it extremely important for the economy of the province of Benguela and the nation as a whole."

Benguela is home to Port Lobito which is one of the country’s most active deep-water ports and is open 24 hours a day.

Benguela province has an estimated population of two million, with about 1.3 million of those living in the coastal areas of Lobito, Catumbela Village and Baia-Farta. "The province constitutes a significant potential market on the one hand, while on the other it requires a strong social policy in terms of education, health and social assistance, all of these are issues that the government is trying to address," the governor acknowledges.
While governor Rangel has his work cut out for him, he also has it easier than most of his colleagues from the other 17 provinces. Benguela is one of the country’s wealthier provinces with an abundance of oil, fishing and farming, while the outlook for developing other industries is more than promising.
"Benguela’s coastal area alone has irrigable valleys of more than 30,000 hectares, and then there are the vast arable areas in the interior," Mr. Rangel notes. "And at Colonial Rule there is a cattle park with more than one million head of cattle, aside from many other types of livestock. Therefore, factories have been set up for meat and fruit canning and juice production."

“The coastal area alone has irrigable valleys of over 30,000 hectares”

Currently, however, those installations are operating below capacity due to a lack of investment capital, the governor says, but in other areas, heavy and light industries are flourishing. "In general our food industry is quite significant, not only cattle and farming but also fishing. Over the past several years we have led the nation in net-fishing, capturing about 30,000 metric tons as an annual average."
But not all factories in the province are functioning, the governor laments. "Establishments were privatized and now the owners find themselves in financial difficulties and are unable to rehabilitate them."

Much hope is being placed on future oil revenues. Blocks 31, 32 and 33 are located in waters belonging to the province of Benguela, and in a few years they are expected to produce enough to help make up for the lack of capital.
But in the meantime, governor Rangel has opened up the province to domestic and foreign investors who want to get in on the ground floor. "Our doors are wide open to welcome investors and funding to develop our economic activity. There are special opportunities in the areas of education and health services where we hope the private sector can alleviate some of the government’s obligations," Mr. Rangel concludes.