Luanda, July 2, 2024 (Lusa) - The Angolan government announced today that the estimated investment for the construction of the Luanda Surface Metro (MSL) is $1.9 billion (€1.7 billion), without giving any dates for the start of the work.
According to Angola's Secretary of State for Land Transport, Jorge Bengue, the construction of the MSL, the first phase of which comprises 60 kilometres on the Avenida Fidel de Castro Zona Verde Sequele route and the ZEE/Aeroporto Internacional António Agostinho Neto branch, is part of the National Development Plan (PDN) 2023-2027.
The government official, who presented the Expansion and Modernisation Programme for Angola's Transport and Logistics Sector on Tuesday, said that the MSL, which is to form part of the integrated public transport network, comprises a total of 149 kilometres.
The Siemens Mobility consortium and Empresas de Construção Civil will be the contractors for this project, whose start date was not given by the official.
Jorge Bengue, who was speaking as part of the "Comunicar Por Angola" programme, an initiative of the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Social Communication, said that studies for the construction of the MSL were already in the final stages.
"A priority route has been defined, this is the route on which the latest studies have focused, from the point of view of technical details, there are already authorisations to start, there is an effort of around $1.9 billion, these are the projections that the study points to from the point of view of cost estimates," he said.
The Luanda Surface Metro is part of the programme to improve urban mobility in the Angolan capital, which has more than 10 million inhabitants spread over nine municipalities.
Bengue also said that the Angolan government had not approved the implementation of a cable car for Luanda, saying that it was not a specific project, but just a proposal presented to the Luanda Provincial Government (GPL).
"It's a subject on which we have no technical opinion because it's not something that has been approved by the government," he told reporters.
At the end of June, GPL presented a preliminary study for a cable car project in the Angolan capital, with the capacity to transport up to 8,000 users in both directions.
According to a statement from GPL, this aerial transport system, which has the participation of the Portuguese company Casais, "aims to help mobility in the urban centre and surrounding areas".
Angola's Secretary of State for Land Transport also highlighted the digital transformation and decarbonisation of the transport sector as priorities for the ministerial department, noting that the electromobility legislative package should be approved this month.
"A technical team has already drawn up the national electromobility plan which sets out the concrete steps we need to take to decarbonise the sector," he said.
DYAS/ADB // ADB.
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