World Report

Governor of Cabinda José Anibal Lopes Rocha has been at the helm of the province since 2002.

osé Anibal Lopes Rocha, formerly Governor of Luanda and currently Governor of the Province of Cabinda, speaks about the issues affecting his term in Angola’s oil-rich and politically troubled enclave.

During your five-year mandate as Governor of Luanda, you were able to bring about many positive changes in the province during a particularly difficult time in the country’s history, and in a capital city that was receiving thousands of political refugees. Now you have been Governor in Cabinda for two years. Can you tell us what you have accomplished and what your plans are for Cabinda?

Cabinda has gone through some difficult times and obviously our top priorities are to promote social and economic development. Within these two areas, however, we have identified what we consider the most urgent needs. The provision of proper health services is at the top of the list. Cabinda is located in a region where endemic diseases are common. At the moment we are focused on combating HIV, which is a threat, and also other diseases such as malaria. We began a health programme at the Central Hospital of Cabinda, and we have set up medical posts around the province. We are also in the process of rebuilding two municipal hospitals.

Compounding the health problems in the province is the lack of skilled medical professionals. To deal with this, we have set up training courses. We have made substantial progress in combating malaria, which has largely been due to improvements in water treatment and are now working on restoring the water distribution system in the province. We hope to increase the present capacity of 120 MC per hour to 380 MC. Sanitation was also a major problem; we have begun to impose some order in the rubbish collection system, creating municipal disposals so people are not just getting rid of their rubbish wherever they can find a place.

You have made progress in the provision of government services and public utilities in several other areas. Could you elaborate on these?

“Growth is stemming not only from oil but also from other activities”

We have been working on improving other basic services. Two years ago, Cabinda had a power supply of just 4MW. The town was practically in darkness. Today we are producing 25MW, so the situation has changed considerably. The education system is also getting better. It is not exactly where we would like it to be, there are still some shortcomings, but within two years we hope to have the most urgent problems solved. One important thing that we are doing is supplying a basic school snack of milk and biscuits for primary students. When we started the programme, we were serving 50,000 children. Now it has reached 80,000 and next year we are predicting that it will be 100,000. In higher education, we are going to inaugurate two schools for professional training next August, mainly offering training for work in the oil industry. Our great hope is to open a technical institute that will offer engineering courses.

You mentioned that economic development was also a priority. Could you comment on the government’s plans for stimulating economic growth in the province?

Actually, Cabinda’s economy is on the rise, and growth is stemming not only from the oil industry but also from other sectors, which was our goal. We have been trying to develop the other sources of wealth in the province while eliminating the illegal exploitation of minerals and working within an environmentally protective framework. We have been watchful of the vegetation in the province and replanted where necessary. We have also managed to develop value-added industries. For example, Cabinda is no longer exporting natural wood as it did in the past. Now all our wood is manufactured here, and companies from Cabinda are taking our wood products to the West, particularly to Europe.