uThe province of Cabinda no doubt plays a key role in adding wealth to the nation’s coffers

Angola has the potential to be one of Af-rica’s richest, most successful countries. Its 18 provinces boast enormous mineral wealth and the country is already the second-biggest oil producer on the continent, after Nigeria.

Following the peace agreement in 2002 that ended the 27-year civil war, President José Eduardo dos Santos and his government have worked diligently through trying times to find internal solutions that have brought peace to the country and promoted its presence at the international level.

Those efforts have already made a huge difference in the lives of ordinary Angolans. Gross domestic product has grown rapidly, at an average pace of more than 15% from 2004 to 2007, and more than 10% in 2008, before contracting slightly in 2009 and 2010. Overall growth of 4.8% is expected for 2010 and the economy will expand a further 7.4% in 2011, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The President’s economic team has also had great success in fighting inflation, which disproportionately hurts the poor by reduc-ing the value of their already meagre income and savings. Price increases plunged from an annual rate of 325% in 2000 to less than 15% in 2010.

One of the government’s signature ef-forts has been a national reconstruction pro-gramme whose intention is to modernise the country’s infrastructure after the war. The goal of the projects funded by the programme is to rebuild Angola’s biggest and most impor-tant infrastructure assets, with the ultimate objective of improving the quality of life of the country’s residents.

The programme has been very successful in spurring the rapid acceleration of economic growth. When the country gained its inde-pendence from Portugal in 1975, it possessed one of Africa’s best and most extensive road networks. Rebuilding the country’s transport arteries is now a priority because of their importance to moving construction materials for other projects around the countryside.

There are other projects that will help Angolans even more directly. One of the government’s most ambitious programmes aims to build one million new houses around the country by 2012, for about $50 billion. Angolans have taken note of all these efforts and shown their support for the government

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CabindaRapid economic growth sparks huge interest in Angola’s oil-rich enclave

Excluding its oil industry, Cabinda is the second largest contributor to Angola’s GDP after Luanda

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Contents

New administration

Cabinda’s governor to maintain the province’s progressuThe new governor has taken up the banner of his predecessor’s reforms

Cabinda’s provincial governor, Mawete João Baptista, has been on the job since November, 2009, and has spent the time since he moved into the position getting to know the region, its local leaders, and the problems that need to be dealt with to continue the work of improving the lives of the province’s residents.

Mr Baptista has recently held meet-ings with local chieftains, the leaders of a provincial banking group and other regional organisations.

In February the provincial governor started a policy of meeting with citi-zens and civil servants every Tuesday in order to learn about and help solve the problems facing Cabindans and the regional government.

Mr Baptista’s government has iden-tified several priorities, and has placed improving the province’s healthcare system right at the top of the list.

“We’re going to open hospitals and medical clinics to treat malaria, tuber-culosis, diarrhoea and other illnesses, and provide women with acceptable conditions at maternity wards around the region,” Mr Baptista said during a speech in February.

The provincial governor’s goal is always to offer the region’s residents the best, most efficient public services pos-sible. Mr Baptista has told Cabindans that he plans to oversee the operation of public companies more closely, to make sure they’re managed correctly and for the benefit of the people of the province.

As part of his intention to make the provincial government more responsive to local needs and events, Mr Baptista was quick to promise support to the victims of March’s torrential rains that destroyed 65 homes in the Cabindan town of Caio Litoral.

Mr Baptista brings a great deal of experience to his posting. He was gov-ernor of Uíge province immediately before taking the same job in Cabinda, and before that he was Angola’s ambas-sador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for ten years. Cabinda is surrounded on three sides by DRC, so his knowledge of the neighbouring country can be particularly useful to the province.

Baptista’s ethnic background, from the Bacongo group that is present in Cabinda, should help the governor gain the sympathy of many of the province’s residents.

in the elections. The governing party is the Popular Move-

ment for the Liberation of Angola, or the MPLA. The group has ruled the country since the end of the armed conflict in 2002, and its efforts have won the strong support of An-golans. The party won the national elections in September of 2008 with about 80% of the vote, a huge margin signalling to the rest of the world that Angola is a stable democracy, dedicated to improving the lives of its citizens.

Most of the economic growth recorded in recent years has come from the country’s oil production, which represents about 85% of GDP. The government is aware of the country’s dependence on oil, and the need for a more varied economy to spur new job creation, and has been working to promote other industries, including tourism, mining and agriculture.

Before the civil war that began in 1975, following the country’s independence from Portugal, Angola was an iron ore exporter and a diamond producer. The war destroyed most

of the country’s iron mining infrastructure, but the industry has been making a comeback in the past few years.

Diamond production, though greatly re-duced by the war, has been another success story since the end of the conflict. Angola is already the world’s sixth-largest diamond producer, according to Endiama, the state-owned monopoly.

Angola’s 18 provinces offer marvellous diversity. The seven provinces along the coun-try’s 1,000-mile-long coast on the Atlantic Ocean range from the lush jungles of Cabinda and Zaire provinces in the north to the plains and deserts that predominate in the southern province of Namibe. Bengo, Benguela and Kwanza Sul are known for their beautiful beaches, with Bengo closest to the Luanda capital district.

The inland provinces also boast beauty, for example in the dense rain forests of Uíge, along the Congo border, and Cuando Cu-bango, with its abundant wildlife. They’re also where much of the country’s under-exploited

mineral wealth lies, with the important excep-tion of oil.

Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul are both diamond-mining centres, while Uíge has de-posits of copper and cobalt. Moxico has the country’s second-biggest timber industry, after Cabinda, and also contains exploitable deposits of copper, gold, diamonds, uranium and other substances.

Other inland provinces include Kwanza Norte, one of Angola’s richest agricultural ar-eas, producing corn, peanuts, pineapples, peas, sweet potatoes and a variety of beans. It is also the home to the country’s largest hydroelectric station at the dam at Cambambe, which sup-plies power to local residents and businesses.

Huambo and Bie provinces have excel-lent hydroelectric potential because of the numerous rivers that cross them, while Huila province has great tourist potential. Huila’s picturesque tablelands, small mountains, val-leys and rushing streams and rivers provide many sites that visitors might like to see.

No discussion of Angola’s provinces

would be complete without mentioning Cabin-da. Cabinda is the small, oil-rich part of Angola that is separated from the rest of Angola by a 25-mile-wide strip of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The province, which is also rich in other natural resources, has undergone a huge change for the better since 2006, when a peace agreement with a separatist group was signed.

Cabinda is Angola’s biggest oil-producing province, with most of that production com-ing from offshore wells. Cabinda keeps 10% of the oil income generated by the offshore oilrigs that produce about half of Angola’s total oil output. That revenue, combined with wise governance on the part of the leaders in Luanda, Angola’s capital, and in Cabinda City, is reshaping the province.

Angola has made great progress under the governance of President dos Santos, and has already begun to play a bigger part in interna-tional affairs. As football fans already know, Angola hosted the CAN2010 African football championship tournament this year, which was won by Egypt on January 31 in Luanda.

Reform

Living a new period of stability and prosperityuHealth care and education are at the forefront as a stable economy and govern-ment emerge

After the long, post-independence period of civil strife in Cabinda and the rest of Angola, the government is serious about its responsibility to provide its citizens with the necessities of life, including political, social and economic stability, health care, educa-tion, and the opportunity to earn a living.

Cabinda has now enjoyed more than four years of relative peace following the signing of the Memorandum of Understand-ing (MOU) on August 1, 2006 by the gov-ernment and the group representing the separatists, the Cabinda Forum for Dialogue.

That agreement marked the beginning of a new era for the province, in which its considerable mineral wealth is now being used to improve the lives of the region’s people. In the time since the agreement was signed, Cabinda has made great strides in that direction, but more must be done and Cabindans need to do their part with a feeling of solidarity.

The welfare of the people has been the government’s priority since the start, and it has demonstrated that focus for years. Cabinda’s children have especially benefited from these efforts, as new schools have been built all around the province.

Students every year are given uniforms and school supplies, and every day they’re given a nutritious snack. Ensuring their health is a major goal as well, and the province has

established mobile health clinics that go from school to school, giving kids check-ups.

There have been polio vaccine cam-paigns, and children receive medicines to protect them against parasites and other ailments. Making sure they have healthy teeth has been the focus of another pro-gramme that provides every child with a dental hygiene kit.

Cabinda’s adults have been in need of help too, and the government has not forgot-ten them. Adult schooling has been funded to educate people who were unable to go to school as children because of the civil con-flict. A special effort is being made to help reintegrate the fighters from the separatist

groups that laid down their arms with the signing of the peace agreement.

Reintegration was a main promise made by the central government to the separatists, 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 responsi-bilities under the MOU. The government has budgeted funds to carry out two of the most important tasks remaining, which are helping fighters from the Front for the Lib-eration of the Enclave of Cabinda return to civilian life, and helping refugees still living in nearby countries return to the province.

A programme to help fighters handi-capped by the war find jobs has been success-ful, buying taxis that are shared by various former fighters, and supplying others with industrial equipment they can use to start up their own businesses.

Of course, the government’s pro-grammes to improve the wellbeing of Cabi-nda’s population extends far beyond build-ing schools and clinics. Building up the province’s transportation and sanitation infrastructure also helps to foment stability in the region.

It also establishes the necessary ingredi-ents for the provincial government’s biggest goal: to transform Cabinda over the next four to ten years into a province of great economic importance, integrally strategic for Angola beyond oil.

Projects to feed, clothe and equip schoolchildren are now under way

uPortuguese colonialists ruled Cabinda from 1885 until 1975, when Portugal gave up its overseas colonies following a left-wing revolution.

uCabinda covers 7,800 square kilometres (3,000 square miles) and has a population of 300,000 out of Angola’s estimated 16.5 million.

uThe province was once geographically part of Angola but was separated from it in 1885 when the Belgian Congo acquired a corridor to the sea along the lower Congo River.

uA northern exclave of Angola, Cabinda is one of the country’s 18 provinces, separated from the rest of the country by a 25-mile-wide strip of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire).

uThe total size of Angola, including Cabinda, is slightly less than twice the size of Texas.

uCabinda is within 250 miles of four large cities: Luanda, the Angolan capital; Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo; and, on the other side of the Congo River, Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo; and Pointe Noire, the republic’s second-largest city.

uMost Cabindans speak French rather than Portuguese, the dominant language of Angola, as well as the indigenous language Cabindes.

uRevenues from the region’s vast oil reserves have helped Angola to become sub-Saharan Africa’s third biggest economy after South Africa and Nigeria.

uThe size of Cabinda’s petroleum deposits has earned it the nickname of ‘the Kuwait of Africa’

uMoves are under way to diversify the economy and invest in a variety of sectors such as agriculture

uThe region produces hardwoods, coffee, cacao, crude rubber, and palm oil products.

Finance 02

Foreign investment 02

Oil and gas 03

Infrastructure 04

Economic diversification 05

Industrial development 05

Health & education 06

Tourism 07

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Progress

Peace heralds a new era of growthuPeace has been achieved in the Angolan province, bringing with it new economic growth and FDI

Angola’s history since gaining indepen-dence from Portugal in 1975 has largely been about civil wars and separatist move-ments. After the two main groups that had been fighting signed a peace agreement in 2002, the country has had the opportunity to move forward and rebuild the damage done by the conflict.

President José Eduardo dos Santos and his government have worked non-stop to improve the lives of Angolans since the peace agreement was signed on April 4, 2002. Even with the signing of that agree-ment, however, the central government still had one-armed conflict to settle, in the oil-rich Cabinda province.

When the peace agreement between the Angolan central government and the Cabindan separatists was finally signed in 2006, it opened the door for foreign companies to come to the province and seek out potentially lucrative investments.

President dos Santos sent a hand-picked team to negotiate the peace pact, and it took them two years to reach an agreement with the leaders of the separat-ist group. The province is already reaping the benefits of the newfound stability.

The 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.

The 2006 Memorandum of Under-standing signed by the Cabindan separat-ist 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 rec-onciliation,” 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 has agreed to continue funding a non-governmental organisation called Search for Common Ground that is help-ing to reduce conflict in the province while also improving infrastructure.

USAID agreed to increase its funding of the group to $600,000, from $490,000 in the previous two years, after judging that the NGO had managed the original funds satisfactorily.

Search for Common Ground holds seminars and other meetings intended to help people find peaceful ways to resolve conflicts, and has also participated in fund-ing the construction of a 25,000-litre water tank in the Cabindan village of Mandarin, and in improving local roads.

“This agreement we’re signing today to support Search for Common Ground’s programme is also an opportunity to com-memorate our mutual commitment for the development of Cabinda,” said Susan Brems, the then-director of USAID, dur-ing the signing.

USAID is also working with other groups, including Chevron and its partners in the Block Zero oil field, to help improve the lives of Cabindans. The oil companies working on the block agreed to contribute $3 million, and USAID $1 million, to a project to promote commercial agriculture.

The money is being used to train farmers to improve productivity and quality, and to help set up warehousing and distribution infrastructure. The pro-gramme is expected to create 5,000 new jobs spread across 1,000 farms. The goal is for at least some of the extra food pro-duced to be sold to Chevron’s Malongo oil terminal, located onshore in Cabinda.

“Chevron is determined to increase its purchase of supplies from Angolan

Finance

Cabinda capitalises on the nation’s banking boomuForeign and domestic banks are increasing their presence in Cabinda

Angola’s banks are getting more and more involved in financing the country’s expansion, according to a study published by consulting group KPMG Angola.

The Angolan government realised long ago the country’s private banking system would need some help to finance growth. The Banco de Desenvolvimento de Angola, or BDA, was set up in 2006 by the government to “accelerate the balanced and sustainable development of Angola, by providing for the creation of employ-ment and income, the modernisation of social and economic structures and the increase of competitiveness in the country.”

The BDA has been very active in Cabi-nda, particularly in financing the expansion of businesses that make construction sup-plies. Demand for such supplies is strong be-cause the many infrastructure projects have caused a boom in construction, and shortages

of many supplies have been slowing some projects down.

One example is brick-making business 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.

Another way that Angola’s government has played a key part in the growth of both the banking sector and the economy itself has been by pursuing macroeconomic stability and reforming the country’s banking regula-tions. That way the government has created the conditions necessary for the expansion to begin and to continue, all of which is benefiting regular Angolans.

The gains from the growth are already be-ing returned to the economy by private banks in growing proportions. In 2007, banks chan-nelled 75% of deposits back into the economy in the form of credits, way up from 2006, when just 43% of deposits were turned into credit.

Cabinda is also benefiting from the in-creased interest on the part of banks in expand-ing within the country. The number of banks with branches in the province is growing, with Banco de Poupança e Crédito (BPC), Banco de Comércio e Indústria (BCI), Banco Africano de Investimentos (BAI), Banco de Fomento de Angola (BFA), Banco Totta de Angola (BTA), Banco Internacional de Crédito (BIC), Banco Sol, Banco Espírito Santo Angola and Banco Millennium already there.

Angola’s banks have risen close to the top of the rankings for African financial institutions, according to a 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 ten. All these banks are growing rapidly as they benefit from Angola’s strong economy, BNET reported.

With peace has come increased economic stability in Cabinda

uCabinda has long had an interna-tional presence on and off her shores

Cabinda is open for business and look-ing for investors. The region boasts abundant natural resources that can contribute to Cabinda’s economic growth and companies’ bottom lines.

Despite Cabinda’s many other resources, petroleum has long been the focus of foreign investment in the province, and that will remain the case for years to come. Angola is after all Africa’s second-biggest oil producer, after Nigeria and ahead of Libya, and Cabinda has long been the most impor-tant region for the country’s petroleum industry.

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.

Tombua Landana, an ambitious project which includes the construc-tion of one of the tallest structures on the planet, produced its first oil in September of last year and is expected to reach peak production of 100,000 barrels of oil next year.

At 474 metres (1,554 feet), most of the oilrig is submerged. The deepwa-ter drilling rig is taller than the Sears Tower in Chicago and dwarfs the Eiffel Tower.

The total investment in the project will be more than $3.8 billion, which will include more than $272 million of local content spending. The project maximises the use of Angolan engineer-ing, procurement, construction and installation capabilities. Non-Angolan companies that won contracts as part of the project include Daewoo Ship-building & Marine Engineering Co. and Vetco Gray of the U.K., a supplier of equipment and services for onshore and offshore drilling.

As part of its investment in Cabi-nda, Chevron is spending $2 million to

Secretary of State Clinton gives Angola a grade ‘A’ for all of its effortsuAngolan Ambassador Josefina Pitra Diakite speaks about her country’s progress and bilateral relations with the U.S.

What are your views on Angola’s growth prospects for this year and next?

I think the crisis that the oil sector faced, between the reduction of its prices in the international arena and the global economic crisis, in a way helped the Angolan govern-ment in terms of thinking to engage in the diversification of its economy as well as the recovery and modernisation of infrastructure. Infrastructure has recovered, in terms of con-struction, rehabilitation of roads, education, agriculture, health care and housing.

The government pledged to build one million new homes between 2009 and 2012. Also, the diversification that is happening is not limited only to Luanda, or even the main towns like Benguela, Cabinda and Huambo or Huíla; infrastructure is being improved everywhere.

What is your outlook on U.S.-Angola relations under the Obama-Biden ad-ministration?

Bilateral relations are very good at this point and have developed even faster than we’d expected.

Our Minister of Foreign Affairs H.E. dos Anjos made an official visit to the U.S. and Secretary Clinton expressed that the U.S. wants to be a part of Angola’s rehabilitation, reconstruction and the building of the ‘New Angola’. In August 2009, Secretary Clinton visited Angola first on her African trip; not because it starts with an ‘A’, she said, but because Angola is getting an ‘A’ in everything it is doing.

companies as much as possible,” says Alan Kleier, general director of Chevron’s unit in Angola. “Companies here have benefited in that way.”

USAID and several partners also par-ticipate in the Municipal Development Programme, which is intended to promote participation in government and to make local governments more efficient as they work to meet citizens’ needs.

The programme operates in several Angolan provinces, and was first launched in the country in the province of Cabinda, with funding of more than $8 million to improve local administrators’ ability to

plan, budget, implement and oversee local development programmes.

An interesting project started in 2006, and funded by Chevron through the Cabi-nda Agribusiness Development Alliance (CADA), is helping to start up a local honey-producing industry. As part of the programme, CADA has brought in experts to train beekeepers and teach them how to build and maintain hives.

All of these efforts to help Angola are part of the U.S.’s desire to improve rela-tions with this key African country. During the administration of George W. Bush, the U.S. worked consistently toward that

goal, and that work will continue under President Barack Obama, according to U.S. Ambassador Dan Mozena.

Angola, and in particular, Cabinda, are the sites of some of the biggest investments in oil made by U.S. companies abroad, and the new administration will want to work to expand investments into other economic sectors, the ambassador explains.

Angola can also play a larger role in the rest of Africa, Mr Mozena says. It has one of the continent’s biggest and most professional armies, and so has the ability to play an important part in peacekeeping tasks in various conflicts.

help fund the construction of a maritime water testing facility. The local gov-ernment and the Fishing Ministry are also contributing to the project, which will carry out biological, chemical and heavy metal testing of the seawater in the region.

For decades, most of the oil pro-duced in Cabinda came from offshore wells because of security concerns that prevented investors from exploring on-shore areas. Now that peace has come to Angola, more is being spent to identify promising areas and to develop any in-teresting discoveries.

Estimates of the onshore reserves in Cabinda vary, but experts are very optimistic that the region contains large reserves, possibly even larger than the proven deposits offshore. That has

prompted some analysts to dub the re-gion the ‘Kuwait of Africa.’

One field, called Massambala-1, was estimated last year to contain 170 million barrels of oil, more than five times the amount originally thought. Roc Oil of Australia, with a 60% stake in the Cabi-nda South block where Massambala-1 is located, has already begun exploration in other areas of the province.

Cabinda’s, and Angola’s, oil wealth has attracted investors from all around the world. Chinese companies are also very interested in the area, and have long been present all around the country.

Earlier this year, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) signed an agree-ment with Sonangol to buy a stake in Angola Block 18, a deepwater well that has been in operation since 2007.

Cabindans now enjoy pleasant public areas thanks to public works projects

FDI

Foreign investment pours into the ‘Kuwait of Africa’

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Oil production

Greater activity and more participants as demand pushes up productionuFrom oil processing to construction, global companies are setting up shop in Cabinda thanks to its tax incentives and work force

The rapid economic growth in the past decade in countries such as China, India and Brazil has led to an ever-increasing demand for more energy, which in turn has spurred more and more investment in the exploration for new oil deposits, and in finding more efficient ways to exploit currently developed deposits.

Angola, and Cabinda, have welcomed this flow of investment into the oil industry, and are doing all they can to encourage more. Many different companies, including Chevron, Total, ENI, Pluspetrol Interna-tional, ROC, and Angola’s state-owned Sonangol are eager to take up the challenge and find more oil.

Cabinda’s local government keeps 10% of the income from local production to help fund its own projects, with the remain-der going to the central government. That means that the more oil that companies can extract and export, the better for An-golans and Cabindans, who benefit from programmes to build up the infrastructure and improve the health and education of the province’s population.

Chevron Corp. of the U.S. is the biggest foreign oil producer operating in Cabinda. Its local unit, Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, or CABGOC, has a 31% share in Block 14 production and a 39% stake in Block Zero. The two blocks currently produce the bulk of Cabinda’s oil.

Production from Block 14, one of Cabi-nda’s most important deposits, 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) probably peaked in 2008.

The Tombua Landana project, a $3.8

Almost all of Cabinda’s oil production comes from its offshore wells and prospectors have now started scouring the province for onshore deposits in the resource-rich region

Natural gas

Capturing rather than releasinguLNG is just one of the petroleum prod-ucts that is leaving its mark in Cabinda

The natural gas that flows from oil depos-its used to be burned off as an unwanted by-product. Now that natural gas has also become a valuable commodity and source of energy, oil companies around the world are eager to capture the gas for sale.

Cabinda, and all of Angola, is rich in natural gas, with 9.6 trillion cubic feet of reserves for the whole country as of Janu-ary 1, 2010, according to the Oil and Gas Journal. That figure is up from an estimate of 2 trillion cubic feet in 2007.

Oil producers in Angola are working to cut the amount of wasted gas. In 2008, Angola produced about 355 billion cubic feet of gas, of which 69% was vented or flared, 23% reinjected into the wells and only 8% was used domestically, according to the U.S. EIA.

Chevron and its partners in Cabinda’s Block Zero oil production field, Sonangol, Eni SpA and Total SA, last year inaugurated the Takula Gas Processing Plant (TGPP) to

eliminate the need to burn off the gas and to permit it to be processed, stored and transported so that it can either be sold or used to generate electricity in Angola.

The Takula field, located in Area A of Block Zero, has been one of Angola’s most productive areas. Discovered in 1971, pro-duction started in 1982, and is expected to produce until after the year 2025.

TGPP represents a major success for the Area A project as it will provide ad-ditional compression and gas sweetening in Block Zero.

The AAGM, as the Area A Gas Manage-ment Programme is known, consists of three parts, including the TGPP, the Cabinda Gas Plant and the Flare and Relief Modifica-tion project, which together eliminate the routine burning of natural gas in the area by permitting the fuel to be collected and processed.

The TGPP can process approximately 100 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, which will be delivered to the new facility onshore in Cabinda. Chevron and

partners are also building a natural gas liquefaction plant in Soyo Province that will allow for the export of gas once the plant is finished.

The liquefied natural gas plant was announced in 2008, and construction has already begun. It is planned to process about 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day and to produce about 5.2 million metric tonnes a year of LNG and related products such as propane, butane and condensate.

The TGPP, located offshore in the Takula field, stands in water that’s about 186 feet deep. The support structure was built locally, in Lobito in Angola’s nearby Ben-guela province, while the processing plant was built in South Korea by Samsung Heavy Industries and then transported to the site.

The giant, four-story facility will allow Chevron to meet Angolan environmental regulations that require the reduction of gas-flaring, and will also help contribute to the economic development of the country by providing another energy source, as well as export revenue.

Chevron and its partners in Angola are already major funders of such programmes in Cabinda and the rest of the country, placing a particular emphasis on combating illiteracy and improving health care.

The commitment to reducing emissions produced by flaring, and to using the natural gas from the wells more productively, won’t come cheaply. In January 2010 Chevron said it would spend $2.3 billion over the next five years on the programme.

Most of the oil and gas extracted from Cabinda’s offshore waters comes from de-posits under more than 1,000 feet of water. In August of last year Chevron announced it had found oil and gas in a deposit closer to the coast, in water about 400 feet deep.

The deposit will be much easier and cheaper to exploit than fields in deeper wa-ter, which require expensive platforms and support structures. The shallow-water oil and gas can be extracted with equipment that doesn’t require such infrastructure and can then be piped directly back to the shore.

uNew technologies are revolutionising the drilling process

Oil companies are constantly seeking newer and more cost-effective ways to extract oil and other petroleum products from the earth. The constantly growing demand for energy products means that drillers have to be ready to go to some of the most inhospitable parts of the world, including deep under the sea, to satisfy the world’s need for crude oil.

Recent discoveries off the Brazilian coast, for example, are going to require drilling platforms that will stand in seas as deep as 1.2 miles, and that can drill as deep as 3.1 miles more under the seabed, through dense layers of salt and rock.

Fortunately for the companies operat-ing in Cabinda, the province’s oil is more accessible than the crude in Brazil’s Tupi field. Nevertheless, Chevron has been ex-ploring the deep waters of Cabinda for years, and just last year began production at Tombua Landana, the $3.8-billion project that involved the construction of one of the tallest man-made structures on the planet.

The rig, located 50 miles off the Cabi-ndan coast and at a depth of 1,200 feet of water, consists of a large, multiple-deck structure which contains production fa-cilities and a 120-person accommodation building. The entire structure measures 1,554 feet high.

Production on the platform, which is in Block 14, is expected to reach its peak of 100,000 barrels of crude per day next year. One of the project’s many innovations is that it was designed for zero discharge of produced water, and another is that none of the gas produced by the well will be routinely burned off.

Instead, the gas will be sold through the Angola Liquefied Natural Gas plant, which is currently under construction in Soyo, in An-gola’s Zaire province. Zaire province is in the north of Angola, just over the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo, making it the closest part of Angola to Cabinda.

Chevron and other companies operating in Cabinda and Angola all try to get as much

Companies using local labour and supplies are helping Angola develop its oil-services industry

Offshore

Innovative extraction projects

billion oil production platform within Block 14 that included the construction of one of the tallest man-made structures on the planet, started production in September of last year and is expected to reach peak production of 100,000 barrels of oil per day in 2011.

In July 2009, Chevron announced that the company and its partners had started crude production ahead of schedule at the Mafumeira Norte project, within Block Zero. The project is expected to reach its maximum production of 30,000 barrels of crude and 30 million cubic feet of natural gas per day some time next year.

Chevron also continues to prospect for new fields to develop in Cabinda’s offshore blocks. In August of last year the U.S. oil company announced that it had made an-other successful discovery in Block Zero, which Chevron co-owns with Sonangol (41%), France’s Total (10%) and Italian oil company ENI (9.8%).

Much of the oil already produced in Cabinda is exported through Chevron’s Malongo terminal, a largely self-sufficient encampment on the coast whose loading ter-minal 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 all of Angola, with a total daily production of more than 171,000 bar-

rels 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.

While Chevron has been present in Angola for decades, the arrival of stability in the country with the signing of the 2002 and 2006 peace pacts has attracted more foreign companies to the area to seek out promising new deposits.

Almost all of the oil produced in Cabi-nda comes from its offshore wells. That production represents approximately half of Angola’s total oil output of about 1.85 million barrels per day, and has helped make the country one of Africa’s top three oil produc-ers. After the 2006 agreement with Cabindan separatist movements, oil prospectors have started scouring the province for onshore deposits that can be exploited.

The Lower Congo Basin, where Cabinda is located, has long been known to be rich in petroleum resources, and the prospecting carried out so far has shown the onshore area to have great potential for development.

ROC Oil of Australia began exploration in the Cabinda South block in 2005, and its efforts have already been greatly rewarded. One field, known as Massambala-1, was estimated in 2008 to contain 170 million bar-rels of oil, more than five times the amount originally thought.

ROC, through its wholly owned subsid-iary Lacula Oil Company Ltd., announced in November of last year that it had started drilling exploration wells in the Castanha-1 and Coco-1 fields. Castanha-1 was the first exploration well in ROC’s 2009 drilling programme in the Cabinda South block.

The Cabinda South block includes the Massambala field and others, including Co-co, Milho, Cevada and Soja, which mean coconut, corn, barley and soy in Portuguese.

ROC, who originally owned a 60% in-

terest in the Cabinda South block, last year agreed to farm out a 45% stake to Pluspetrol Angola Corp., a Houston, Texas-based com-pany, which then took over as operator. ROC then farmed out another 5% stake to Cuba Petroleo, leaving the Aussie company with a 10% interest in the block.

The entire block is located within 31 miles of Chevron’s Malongo terminal, which will make it easier to export its oil once pro-duction starts.

Cabinda’s people stand to gain from the increase in onshore exploration, as well as from the production offshore, as programmes 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.

Chevron has long been active in 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 help-ing reduce poverty and spur economic growth in other ways as well.

The Angola Partnership initiative, a co-operative 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 in 2004, called NovoBanco.

Since opening, NovoBanco has granted more than $27 million of loans to more than 5,500 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 pro-grammes that are intended to help make local governments more efficient by improving their organisational and administrative skills, and to further reduce poverty by encourag-ing the growth of small and medium-sized businesses.

All of the exploration and drilling activity, as well as the programmes funded by Chev-

ron, its partners, and the local and national governments, are adding to the amount of money invested in Cabinda each year.

That inflow means more direct jobs for Angolans and Cabindans who are hired to build the structures needed to explore and produce oil, and for the people who benefit from the spending that will result from more locals having more money in their pockets.

So even as big multinational corpora-tions such as Chevron, Total and Pluspetrol gain from Cabinda’s abundant petroleum resources, Cabinda’s residents will also directly gain from the new jobs created by the projects, and indirectly from the money that will flow into government coffers.

Jobs & enterprise

Training thenation’s petroleum industryuCompanies look to maintain the spirit of Angola in their oil and gas operations

As a country with vast petroleum resources, Angola has a tremendous opportunity to use the funds generated from oil to develop the country, providing its citizens with the political and economic stability they deserve. The previous administration took many steps to make sure that Angola gets as much of the benefit as possible from its oil wealth.

One of the most important ways the government has ensured Angola, and Cabi-nda, hold on to a big part of the revenue generated by their oil is to have Sonangol, the state-owned company founded in 1976 to manage the country’s hydrocarbon resource explorations, take important stakes in all the oil blocks that are open for exploration and development.

Since its founding, Sonangol has taken a great interest in training Angolans to work in the oil industry so that as much of the employment created by the sector as possible will go to the country’s citizens. To that end, the company has sent workers abroad for training and help set up the cur-ricula of technical schools that have opened in Angola.

Chevron Corp. of the U.S. and So-nangol are the two biggest oil companies operating in Angola, and both have been diligent in promoting the development of the local oil industry and training local staff as much as possible.

Chevron has been very successful in this endeavour. Angolans represent about 87% of the local company’s workforce, and 75% of professional and supervisory staff in the country are Angolans as well.

Cabinda’s offshore wells are respon-sible for a large part of the 1.85 million bpd that Angola produces

labour and supplies as possible from within the country. All that activity is helping the country develop its own oil-services industry. Chevron began production on another one of its offshore wells last year, known as Mafu-meira Norte, in Area A of Block Zero, using a platform constructed in Angola.

Sonamet, an Angolan oilfield con-struction and services company, won the multi-million dollar contract for engi-neering, procurement, construction and installation of the platform and built it at its construction yard in Lobito, in the south of Angola.

For Sonamet, an Angola-based joint venture between state-owned oil company Sonangol and Acergy, a construction com-pany based in Norway, it was a first – as it was for any Angolan company – to be awarded a contract of this nature.

Oriental newsCabinda

Infrastructure

From transport to water supply, infrastructure gets a huge boostuBridges and roads get special attention as the province invests nearly $100 million

Cabinda’s infrastructure had been ne-glected for so long during the period of civil strife and separatism that when peace returned to the province in 2006, the gov-ernment had to spread its efforts to improve the lives of its residents around many dif-ferent projects.

Over the next few years the people of Cabinda will enjoy a huge improvement in the various different parts of the province’s infrastructure as the government invests more and more on roads, new buses, a new ferry, water and sanitation.

The work on the port and the airport and plans to build a bridge to the rest of Angola are detailed in articles below, but the government is improving much more than those vital networks. For example, communications between Cabinda and the rest of Angola have long been a problem for the province, which is located about 124 miles from the country’s capital.

The national government is working to resolve those difficulties by installing a new system of satellite communications that links together the widespread regions of the country and permits faster transmission of voice, internet, data, television and radio. The provincial government has already taken great strides to improve its own com-munications with the rest of the world.

Work has finished on a submarine cable that will vastly improve Cabinda’s connection to the rest of the world. The end result is a modern telecommunications infrastructure that is the envy of many countries in the region.

Helping Cabindans get around the province more easily is another priority. The province is already much more than halfway through a $190 million project to

improve 170 miles of roads connecting the provincial capital of Cabinda City to other parts of the enclave and to the frontier with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The provincial government has im-ported 152 new buses to take advantage of the new roads and improve connections between Cabinda City and other parts of the area. The new vehicles are making travel within the province quicker, cheaper and easier for residents and visitors alike.

Cabinda already has a new airport, which has been operating for more than two years. The facility has a 1.5-mile runway

that can accommodate planes of all sizes, and now handles more than 100 takeoff/landing operations a day.

The port of Cabinda has also benefited from several improvements. A $100-million expansion plan includes a 29.5-foot-deep manoeuvring basin and a 262-foot access channel that will allow ships carrying over 1,000 tonnes of cargo to use the port. The new facilities will permit increased use of the port and provide new employment opportunities.

Another hugely important project has been the improvement and expansion of

Cabinda’s water supply network. Residents of countries with modern, normally functioning water systems can’t fathom the amount of time and energy that is used in seeking out and carrying fresh water from its source to the home, for cooking, cleaning and sanitation. The water project alone will vastly improve residents’ lives.

The province has already made large and effective investments to improve the water system, which have increased Cabi-nda’s supply capacity from 120 cubic metres of the vital liquid per hour in 2002 to more than 990 cubic metres per hour today.

Port of Cabinda

Major renovations upgrade the portuShipping imports and exports are mov-ing more efficiently through the province

Cabinda’s government has an ambitious plan to make Cabinda City a transport and trade hub for the region. Part of that plan includes the rebuilding and expansion of the seaport. The port received a $100 mil-lion grant from the national government in 2007 to fund the project.

As part of the plan, the port has been given a deeper manoeuvring basin to per-mit ships with a loading capacity of more than 1,000 tonnes to use the facility, and a wider access channel so that two ships may pass at the same time.

Since new management took over the port in 2004, there has also been a con-certed effort to renovate and modernise its equipment to make it cheaper and more competitive with other ports and forms of transportation.

The new management, which was led by the former port director general Osvaldo Lobo do Nascimento, didn’t just renovate the facility’s physical side, though. The port’s operators have also worked to improve its administration, legal set-up, and its marketing to gain more business.

The port’s equipment and physical state, including its container-moving cranes and its pier, were deteriorated and needed much renovation to bring them up to modern standards. That work is well advanced, and should be finished within the next year. The pier, when finished, will have capacity to handle five 12,000-tonne ships at the same time. Five new cranes have been purchased that can stack con-tainers higher than previously possible at the port, which will instantly increase storage capacity, while also allowing faster and nimbler movement of containers.

The port already has a group of work-ers who know how to operate the new loading cranes, which have been named

after former workers at the port who have contributed outstanding work, and a train-ing programme will increase the number of operators.

The port’s cargo holding area is being enlarged, 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, as well as 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 Mr do Nascimento and his team didn’t ignore that area. They hired new people, increased worker training, and changed the port’s legal structure as part of their strategic plan. They also developed a marketing plan intended to attract more business from areas near Cabinda.

New connections

Improving links between Cabinda and Angola uThe enclave is strengthening its ties to the rest of Angola thanks to a variety of new infrastructure linkages

A country’s infrastructure is absolutely vital to its economic success, and the govern-ments of Cabinda and Angola are well aware of this. Both have dedicated huge efforts and ample resources to building up the country’s roads, airports, ports and other important networks.

Those areas are among the govern-ments’ priorities, but health, education, energy, water and telecommunications in-frastructures are also being transformed by investment.

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 renova-tion of sewage systems and helping people and businesses go about their daily lives by

reducing transport and telecommunications times and costs.

The provincial and national govern-ments are working on numerous projects that will increase the province’s electrical supply and extend it further from Cabinda City into the rest of the region. The project will use Cabinda’s energy resources to pro-vide residents with more electricity. Power production has already increased, from 4MW at the start of the project, to 42MW today.

Two gas turbines are in the final stages of being installed, which will take advantage of the natural gas that is extracted along with Cabinda’s oil. Taken together, the different projects will have a great impact on the province’s residents and businesses by increasing the amount of energy avail-able to them.

A recently announced energy project, which could be completed in as little as two years, would link Cabinda’s energy grid to

the Inga Dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The proposed power line would give the province another source of electricity, making the power supply more dependable.

Another project intended to help resi-dents and businesses will link Cabinda, which is cut off from mainland Angola by the DRC, with the rest of the country via a 12.4-mile road that will include a bridge over the Zaire River. The road and bridge

will cost an estimated $2.55 billion and will connect Cabinda to the town of Soyo, in Zaire province.

Transport to Soyo and the national capital of Luanda have already improved. A new, faster ferry has begun operation, cutting travel times from Cabinda to Soyo to one hour from three, and to Luanda from 15 hours to six. The new ship can carry almost four times as many people as previously fit on the old ferry.

Cabinda has long faced difficulties because of its distance from the rest of Angola, with ferries acting as the principle mode of transportation for most people travel-ling between the enclave and the nearest part of the rest of the country, which is the city of Soyo.

Angola’s central government has con-tributed to the efforts to improve transpor-tation between Cabinda and other parts of the country by buying a new ferry called the Ebo, which is already speeding up the trip.

The new ship’s turbine engines give it a maximum speed of 42 knots, which 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 previous ship on that route took. The travel time between Cabinda and the na-tional capital of Luanda has been reduced to six hours, from 15 hours previously.

The Ebo is a much larger ship than

the Lueji, which was the ferry on the route before. The Ebo is 154 feet long and 42 feet wide. It can carry 370 people and cargo. The Lueji had capacity to carry just 96 people.

“The Ebo is a modern, high-speed ship,” says João 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 weight on a ship than on a plane. So the Ebo more than meets people’s needs.”

The Ebo has two classes for travellers, economy and executive. The trip between Cabinda City and Soyo costs 2,000 kwanzas ($22) in economy class, and 3,000 kwanzas ($33) in executive class. The trip to Luanda costs 4,500 kwanzas ($50) in economic and 6,000 kwanzas ($66) in executive. The ship was bought in Italy by Angola’s Ministry of Transport, and the purchase price included a maintenance contract.

By landBridge to the province of Zaire provides a new link to the mainland

Cabinda’s government has been working to improve the province’s economy by focusing on improving its transportation infrastructure. The international airport, where renovations are now complete, is an excellent example of how those efforts are already having a positive effect on people and businesses.

Travellers to Cabinda can now choose from several scheduled daily flights to Luanda, Angola’s capital, on the country’s national carrier, TAAG, which flies to other international desti-nations as well. Another option would be to arrange for a charter flight to and from the airport with a private company.

The renovations to the facility were finished in 2007, leaving Cabinda with Angola’s second biggest airport and a 1.5-mile-long runway, capable of han-dling 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 modernised as well, helping make passengers’ tran-sit through the facility faster and more comfortable.

New equipment has been installed in the control tower and in security ar-eas, making travelling from the airport safer. Officials from the International Civil Aviation Organisation agree. They have inspected the airport, and given a positive opinion of the improvements.

One of the most recent improve-ments is the renovation of the airport’s meteorological, completed in early May of this year. Pilots now receive more accurate data on weather conditions through Cabinda Airport’s air traffic control tower.

The airport is a big employer in Cabinda, providing about 60 direct jobs and about 270 indirect positions. There are already plans afoot for more enlarge-ments and improvements, which would mean even more work for Cabindans.

By airNew equipment at the expanded airport

Huge investments have been made in upgrading road infrastructure, in addition to water supply, the airport and telecommunications

The port of Cabinda is an important gateway to the rest of Africa

By seaThe new ferry will bring Cabinda closer to Angola

Cabinda is separated from the rest of Angola by the Zaire River and a nar-row strip of the Democratic Republic of Congo. That separation has left the province isolated from the rest of the country, but within a few years the problem will be solved by a new bridge.

An audacious project to bring Cab-inda closer to Angola will build a $2.55 billion bridge and roadway to link the two areas by land. The bridge over the Zaire River will be about 12 miles long, and a stretch of highway will complete the connection. Construction on the bridge began in 2008 and is expected to be completed in October 2012.

The bridge is part of a bigger government programme that, when finished, will leave all of Angola with a much improved transportation net-work.

Angolan and Cabindan officials

held meetings with their counterparts from the Democratic Republic of Con-go, which separates the two parts of Angola, to decide on the best route and the best combination of bridge/causeway/roadway to benefit the resi-dents of the area in both countries.

Once a final decision on the proj-ect’s parameters is made, a Chinese construction company, the China Road and Bridge Corporation, will start the process of building the roadway.

The government isn’t neglecting local roads in Cabinda, of course. Hundreds of miles of roadways have been built, rebuilt and improved in re-cent years, with more activity planned. The final goal is to give the province a local road network that will link its towns and smaller villages to Cabinda City, and to the bridge that will join them to the rest of Angola.

Oriental news科特迪瓦

Oriental newsCabinda

Diversification

Digging into the potential of a multi-faceted economy uSectors such as timber and agricul-ture are getting a boost from government subsidies

Cabinda’s oil resources are a source of great wealth for the province and for the entire country, providing funds that are being used to build schools, hospitals, roads and other infrastructure that have already vastly improved the lives of Angolans.

The economy is highly dependent on the petroleum industry, though, and that needs to change in order to reduce the country’s reliance on one sector and to promote the creation of new jobs. The provincial and central governments both recognise the need for more diversity in the economy, and are working to spur de-velopment and investment in other sectors.

One area that has already received a lot of attention is agriculture. Cabinda’s farmers and the provincial government are working together to help boost agricultural production with two goals in mind. One is to increase farm employment, and help create new jobs in related sectors, and the other is to provide the region with enough of the basic foods that are the staples of the local diet.

Within Cabinda’s natural resources,

there lies much potential – and interest – in developing cereal cultivation, soy, fishing and fruit.

The goals for agricultural production have been rising each year, with the objec-tive for the 2007/2008 farming campaign increased to 48,592 tonnes of foods – in-cluding bananas, corn, peanuts, mandioca, macunde beans and sweet potatoes – from the 37,498 tonnes produced in the previous year’s harvest.

Earlier efforts to boost output have already helped, and Cabinda now pro-duces surpluses of mandioca, banana and ginguba, which are exported. The region is also self-sufficient in peanut production, and all the positive results are the fruit of the success of government programmes 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 govern-ment helped introduce new varieties of the plant, enabling the gratifying comeback of the crop.

The government reaches out to help farmers in the rural parts of the country through Agrarian Development Stations, which offer technical advice on how to in-crease production and improve the quality

of crops. Cabinda has four of the new sta-tions, which are spread around the province to make sure they’re as close to the farmers as possible.

The new stations cost 11 million kwan-zas ($122,500) to build and equip, and each has a warehouse to hold equipment, seeds, fertiliser and other items. The region is working to produce other crops, some for local consumption and some for export.

Cabinda already grows pineapples for export, though increasing such exports is difficult at the moment because of a lack of transport infrastructure. A better strategy now is to produce vegetables for the nearby Chevron oil camp at Malongo.

In 2008, the camp bought produce worth $400,000, and that figure can be increased as more regular production and delivery arrangements are made. The re-gional government is buying greenhouses, and has sent a technician to Brazil to learn their greenhouse production techniques to help with this effort. A liquefied natural gas plant that is under construction in the nearby province of Zaire will also boost demand for local produce once it has been finished and staffed.

The local and national governments have several different programmes to help

TimberExpanding Cabinda’s number two industry uAfter years of neglect, the timber sector is back in the spotlight as banks increase lending

Timber is Cabinda’s second-biggest industry after oil. The sector suffered years of neglect as a result of the civil turmoil that took place in the province until just a few years ago. Today, however, the government and private banks are lending to companies in the sector to increase production.

Angola’s rapidly growing economy, which expanded at a real pace of about 1.3% in 2009, a year of economic crisis and reces-sions in most countries around the world, has spurred demand for wood amid a year-long reconstruction programme following the end in 2002 of the civil war.

Angola and its former colonial ruler, Portugal, have an agreement to help promote the African country’s timber industry, with a special emphasis on Cabinda. According to the terms of the agreement, the province will become an important source of timber for the rest of Angola.

Along these lines, the Banco de De-senvolvimento de Angola, or BDA, a state-owned lender set up in 2006 to help finance private businesses, has been active in lending money to companies involved in Cabinda’s timber industry, to help them buy equip-

ment including saws and other woodworking machinery.

The new equipment means local com-panies can increase output at the same time that they add more value to Cabinda’s wood production, keeping more of the profit within the province. More investment in equipment is needed still in order to meet the require-ments of a recent law that stipulates that exported wood products must undergo at least some processing within the country.

In the case of Cabinda, a further stipulation must be met. Any investing in the province’s timber sector must also be done under conditions that ensure that the production of wood from the region is sustainable. This forms part of a public programme to encourage the growth of the lumber industry, in which the provincial government is boosting efforts to improve the health of Cabinda’s forests.

Areas that had previously been defor-ested are being replanted, often with eu-calyptus trees. Eucalyptus is a fast-growing plant, so it will help to quickly replenish the province’s stock of trees. New plantations near Cabinda City are growing a variety of eucalyptus that is better suited to the local climate, after previous efforts with trees from the southern part of Angola were unsuccessful. Government-run Agrarian Development Stations reach out to rural farmers with advice on how to increase the quality and yields of crops

Industrial development

Taking advantage of Cabinda’s eagerness for growthuA variety of new projects are up and run-ning, thanks to government loans

Cabinda’s provincial government is not content to simply live off its oil wealth. The local administration and the national gov-ernment are eager to encourage investment in other promising industries, so that more new jobs will be created and the economy can continue to grow.

The National Agency for Private Invest-ment has established various incentives for investment that are complemented by local programmes. Investors can win land grants, subsidies and pay low prices on some ser-vices that make it easier to start projects up, and help make them profitably more quickly.

Cabinda has taken other steps as well, such as promoting the Futila Industrial Park, where construction work has already begun to provide offices, warehouse space, and all the modern infrastructure needed by busi-nesses. The goal is for the first companies that open there to be in the construction materials sector, to provide the necessary supplies for the building boom.

The construction-supply industry is one that has been growing here in recent years, helped by financing from public and private banks. Institutions such as the state-owned Angola Development Bank, or BDA, are lending money to sawmills, brick makers and other companies.

Other projects that have either already begun, or are in the process of gaining the necessary backers include setting up a palm plantation, along with a processing and bot-

tling plant to sell the oil produced by the trees, and other types of vegetable oils too. A soap factory is another project that has won financing.

Among the most important steps toward industrial development have been the im-provements made to Cabinda’s transport, energy and communications infrastructure, without which no modern business can thrive. Cabinda now has modern telecom-munications links to the rest of the world and an improved water supply system.

Roads, the port and the airport have all

been refurbished, and the supply of electric-ity has risen. With plans to further boost electrical output, the province has great potential to become a regional renewable energy exporter even without counting on its oil and gas resources.

For example, Cabinda is crossed by several rivers, giving it tremendous potential for hydroelectric generation. The province also boasts fertile land that can be used to grow sugar cane that can be transformed

into biofuel, a possibility that is already being studied.

uCreating a base for new industries, the provincial government is looking to begin with building materials and food process-ing

A critical mass of services and infrastruc-tures is often needed to spark economic growth. One tool that many cities, prov-inces and countries have used to provide the necessary catalysts for expansion is the establishment of industrial parks that group these necessary services all together in one place.

Cabinda’s small but growing industrial sector is set to gain an important facility within a few years when the construction of the first phase of the Futila Industrial Park, located about 21 miles north of Cabinda City, is fully completed.

The park is expected to attract factories that will help reduce Cabinda’s dependence on imported goods, while at the same time create good jobs and spur job training pro-grammes 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 more than 10 years ago, though the funding for the $40 million first phase only materialised in 2008. The national govern-ment and the provincial government are both contributing to the ambitious project.

The work of clearing about 272 acres of Skilled technical workers are in high demand in many growing industries

The government is promoting the sustainable development of timber

farmers increase production. The national government has for years provided farmers throughout the country with micro credits to help them acquire equipment and seeds, and the local government has started a similar programme for Cabinda’s coffee farmers. Since 2007, more than 22,000 farmers from around the country have formed cooperatives to benefit from micro-credit programmes.

The programmes lend between $100 and $1,500 to the cooperatives, which consist of at least seven farmers each. Over $6 million has been lent so far to buy farming equipment, of which more than $700,000 has already been repaid.

The programme has been extended to all the provinces in Angola, with about 1,078 Cabindan farmers involved. Another project sponsored by the government is importing cattle into the province. In October of 2008, 1,000 head of cattle arrived in the region from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and more were imported in 2009, boosting the total number of cattle in Cabinda to more than 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 Congolese cattle are expected to fare better because they’re more accustomed to the local weather.

Now that Cabinda is close to producing enough food for the local population, other agricultural projects are starting. Construc-tion of a palm oil refining and bottling plant has already begun, and oil palm trees have been planted to provide supplies.

Angola’s central government is working on several fronts to boost the country’s fish-ing catch as well, to help people become more self-sufficient in their food supply.

In Cabinda that has meant the donation of 20 boats in recent years to fishing coopera-tives in the province, many sent from China, 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 govern-ment gave the cooperatives the boats and engines so they could travel farther and carry more fish.

Now the supply of fish is greater than a few years ago because the new boats can carry four or five tonnes of fish. Cabindan fisherman have also benefited from the open-ing of two ice factories, one in Cabinda City and the other in Cacongo, as well as from a series of engine repair shops that are being built along the coast to help boats suffering from mechanical difficulties. The delivery of canoes and fishing nets has also helped increase the province’s fishing catch by per-mitting fishermen in Cabinda’s interior to exploit the province’s rivers and lakes.

The Futila Industrial Park is expected to create 2,000 jobs and attract more than 60 companies

land for the first phase has been completed; much of the cleared land has been levelled and prepared for the final stage, which is construction of infrastructure and buildings. Some work has already begun in those areas.

The project is off to a good start and construction should be finished in less than three years.

The plan is for companies in construc-

tion supply and food processing to be among the first businesses to occupy the new park. The government hopes to see sawmills, brick and tile makers, plastics companies and ce-ment makers in the first wave of companies.

The goal is for those businesses to make an immediate impact on Cabinda’s economy by supplying basic necessities to residents and much-needed supplies for the boom-

ing construction industry in the region, and around the entire country.

In later phases, chemical companies and other businesses tied to Cabinda’s petro-leum industry are expected to make use of Futila’s facilities. The site, which is planned to eventually expand to occupy 5,795 acres, was chosen partly because of its proximity to Chevron Corporation’s Malongo oil camp.

had the direct cooperation of Sonangol, the state-owned petroleum company, on develop-ing its curriculum. The school has courses in engineering, chemistry and other areas that will be useful to Sonangol and other oil companies.

Another school opened in 2009 in Chiazi, a town 7.5 miles north of Cabinda City. That facility is part of a nationwide programme that will eventually open 21 technical schools around the country.

The facility in Chiazi will have 17 class-rooms, each one with the capacity for 36 students. The school will have workshops, laboratories, boarding facilities for 200 stu-dents, and residences for 10 teachers and for

the school’s director. The training centres in Cabinda have

had great success in turning out students with the skills needed by the oil companies and by other businesses, as well. Demand for trained workers is so strong that many students start receiving job offers before they’ve even finished their courses. Most of them go on to receive their first jobs, often as mid-level technical workers, through the training centres.

Some of the vocational training pro-grammes are part of an agreement the govern-ment signed last year with RKK, a Norwegian organisation that organises such programmes in many parts of the world. The $11 million

contract extends through 2012, and includes plans to develop sustainable vocational train-ing centres around the country, instructor training and specialised training for oil in-dustry workers.

The government is also pushing other companies to get in on the act. In March of this year, Narciso Benedito, the Deputy Minister of Education, said industrial compa-nies will in some cases have to provide their employees with on-the-job training. The goal is to help give even more Angolans the oppor-tunity to learn important, job-related skills.

The government has of course invested heavily in improving the educational system for the youngest Angolans. New schools have

been built all around the country, teachers’ pay has risen, and the budget for teacher training has also been increased. All these measures have led to higher enrolment of the country’s children in schools, and rising levels of literacy.

In 2002, there were 1.7 million children enrolled in the country’s schools. By 2008 the figure had risen to 5.7 million, and is estimated to have climbed to 6 million for the 2009 academic year. Over the same period, the number of classrooms has risen by about 18% each year, though more are still needed.

Despite all the progress made in recent years, the government is still dedicated to making further improvements. In 2009, the Education Ministry signed an agreement with UNICEF to start a programme that will train 8,750 primary school teachers over about three years. The European Commis-sion committed to contributing $5.4 million to the programme, and UNICEF committed to providing another $1.3 million.

The government’s efforts aren’t lim-ited to educating children and finding work for young people. After Angola’s long civil conflict, the country has many former sol-diers with disabilities that the government is working to re-integrate into civil society. The National Association of Angolese Handi-capped, or ANDA, has established various programmes that are providing work for this group of people.

ANDA, which in Portuguese means both ‘work’ and ‘walk’, has opened workshops around the country that are providing jobs to hundreds of people. One workshop in Cabi-nda is equipped with nine sewing machines, including an industrial sewing machine that is being used to make shirts and African-style clothing for women.

ANDA also does other good work around the country. The group has orthopaedic centres in several cities in Angola that have helped more than 500 victims of land mines to gain medical attention and help them reintegrate into the labour market.

Oriental newsCabinda

Health

New health centres expand access to careuChildren especially benefit from the nation’s mobile health clinics, receiving vaccinations and vital check-ups

The Cabindan government has been dedi-cating more and more funding to improv-ing the province’s health care system. New hospital and health centres are being opened around the country, some of them with advanced medical equipment. The new facilities can spare people from the region a trip to the national capital of Luanda, or further, for many treatments.

In addition to renovating Cabinda’s Central Hospital and opening a municipal hospital, the government is now finishing work on the Alzira Fonseca regional hos-pital, which boasts state-of-the-art tech-nology from General Electric. The new equipment permits the facility to carry out cardiovascular, kidney, and diabetes treatments, as well as other procedures.

As in other areas, the region’s chil-dren are a special focus of the increased spending. A vaccination programme be-gun in 2007 has inoculated more than 130,000 children against polio. The kids also receive a vitamin A supplement and an anti-parasite medicine while getting their shots.

A programme administered jointly

Education

Corridors of learning open wide

New medical clinics are kept busy, improving the living standards of rural Cabindans

Job training

Entering the professional world uAn eager new generation of Cabindans is getting equipped for the enclave’s industries

A well-educated and trained population is one of the most important ingredients in any country’s economic success. Educated work-ers are more productive, command higher salaries and contribute more by paying more taxes. Business also gains from having a skilled workforce. The more workers a com-pany can hire locally for a project, the better. Local hires will usually spend more of their money within the community, spreading the wealth around to their neighbors.

Local hires are also cheaper for busi-nesses, because importing workers means a company has to pay for transport, help out with housing, and spend more on many other things related to moving from one country to another.

Angola’s central and provincial govern-ments are working to make sure that potential in-vestors will have as big and skilled a local labour market as possible from which to hire employees. They understand that without a qualified pool of labour, companies have to invest more in finding, training or importing workers, raising the start-up cost of any new projects.

The governments are funding the open-ing of a series of professional and technical training schools. As these open, the coun-try begins to gain a larger, skilled corps of workers that enables foreign companies to hire Angolans, rather than import workers from abroad.

One example of this kind of effort was a national training programme for tour guides, bartenders and receptionists to prepare skilled service workers ahead of the African Football Cup of Nations, or CAN2010, which Angola hosted in January 2010. The Angolan govern-ment and the World Tourism Organisation jointly organised the programme, and training sessions were run in Luanda, Benguela, Lu-bango and Cabinda City, the four cities where matches were held during the tournament.

A technical school that opened in the province of Cabinda to train oil workers has

Computers are becoming more common in Angolan educational centres

by the education and health departments has treated more than 100,000 school children between the ages of five and 14 for parasites over the past two years. In 2007 alone, the programme treated 87,000 kids. The children receive a drug called Albendazol, which will help rid them of the pests that can gravely affect their health and their ability to learn.

The government has begun to ac-quire mobile health care clinics that also help improve the health of the region’s youngest residents. The units travel from school to school to do check-ups, diag-nose illnesses, and aid in the prevention of malaria and parasites.

Another programme to vaccinate people of all ages against polio and ma-

laria, and sponsored by Chevron, is aimed at residents of the region’s rural areas. Drugs are administered by mobile clin-ics to make it easier to reach the most isolated residents.

The rest of the population is also benefiting from the increase in spending, of course. In addition to the new hospital, an older hospital has been renovated and

IN BRIEF

A range of tax advantages

Tax incentives from the govern-ment vary in accordance with the province in which the investment is made. However, investors may be eligible to be free from paying tax on the capital invested for a period of up to 15 years when they invest in Cabinda. Investors are also entitled to additional exemptions, such as up to four years free from paying customs duties and fees. Furthermore, compa-nies that promote capital investments in the province are exempt from the payment of capital gains tax for up to 10 years.

A fair legal framework

Cabinda is one of the richest parts of Angola that is open to devel-opment. Although it is usually associ-ated with oil, it has a vast quantity of other natural resources.

Therefore the government has initiated a process of profound altera-tions in the legal framework, concern-ing investment, aimed at the creation of investment incentives, while at the same time trying to improve the nation’s overall macro-economic per-formance. The Basic Private Invest-ment Law is based on the principle of equality and non-discrimination.

The minimum amount for foreign investment has been reduced from $250,000 to $100,000 in order to en-courage small and medium investors.

A sporting chance at global events

In January 2010, Angola hosted the CAN2010 African Cup of Nations football tournament, ultimately won by Egypt’s national side.

When Angola won its bid to host the competition, the organisers’ goal was to promote sport and show the world that the country had pro-gressed rapidly since the end of the civil war in 2002. The success of the event showed that Angola is now a country that is ready to take its place in African affairs.

José Eduardo dos Santos, Presi-dent of the Republic, commented, “The preference of Angola for hosting CAN2010 translates the prestige that this country has been conquering, for its positive development in the most diverse activities, and it is also proof of the confidence placed in Angolans and on its institutions, as well as the new age the country is living. The Angola nation will prove itself as capable to face this challenge by car-rying out an exemplary CAN in all its aspects. This is other victory for the Angolans, a victory for our country.”

UNDP support

The United Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP) in June reaffirmed the agency’s readiness to support the government of Angola in the promotion of public and private partnerships. “I believe in the strat-egy and vision of the Angolan people towards development,” the UNDP Angola representative said, stress-ing the significance of Angola’s huge investments in several sectors to spur the country’s social and economic development.

new clinics are being opened up around the province that will bring doctors and treatment closer to all Cabindans.

The 40-bed hospital at Cacongo has been completely renovated and provided with new equipment. With a staff of five doc-tors and 32 nurses, the hospital specialises in paediatrics and maternity care, as well as general medicine and AIDS treatment.

New clinics have also been opened in the Massabi and Sanga Planicie areas. The Massabi facility has 25 beds, and can carry out clinical analyses that were not previ-ously available in the area. The people of Sanga Planicie have gained a facility with a maternity ward and a vaccination clinic that will improve the health and the lives of the local population.

One indication of the improvement in health care in recent years is the fact that no new cases of leprosy have been reported since 2005. Coordinator for public health in the regional government, Fuete Henry da Costa, says the success of the region’s leprosy programme can be attributed to the residents of the region taking advan-tage of all the new health care facilities being offered. The region’s leprosy pro-gramme currently manages 35 outpatients who suffer from the disease.

uThe education system has undergone extensive changes and improvements since the end of the strife in the region

The government recognises the impor-tance to the country’s future and its econ-omy of improving the education system further on all levels and is committed to increasing education spending. Teachers and administrators get up-to-date training to better serve new students. More children are in school, more classrooms are being built and teachers are being better paid.

The goal is to guarantee an adequate education that will give all citizens the chance to participate in the development of the country and to improve the system

in terms of quality, teacher competence and social help for students.

The programme of social help is par-ticularly important for the youngest stu-dents, and it’s here where the government has made a special effort. The children in the programmes receive milk and biscuits every day. They also receive two school uniforms and a pair of sandals per year, as well as a backpack containing notebooks, pens, pencils and a pencil sharpener.

A new programme provides every child in school with an oral hygiene kit that includes a toothbrush, toothpaste and a pamphlet explaining to children what they need to do to take care of their teeth.

Even without all those efforts, the

situation for primary education has im-proved tremendously since the end of the war. The number of students in Cabinda, including at the secondary and adult level, has risen to more than 150,000, from 70,000 in 2002.

In that same year, the region needed 400 more classrooms than it had, a figure that has been reduced to about 50 now and will continue to decline as new schools are built and existing facilities are expanded.

Thanks to the period of peace, the expansion of facilities and the increased number of teachers at work, the government has been able to slowly raise the number of years primary students attend classes. Primary education has been expanded two

more years, from fourth grade to sixth grade, and the plan is to further extend the programme as it becomes workable.

Teachers have benefited from the re-forms to the education system, too. Their salary has tripled since 2002, and the total number of instructors has also increased to 4,200, from 3,600 six years ago. Pro-grammes aiming to give more up-to-date training to teachers and administrators are ongoing so they can better meet the new realities of their students.

The regional government is also working on expanding educational pos-sibilities for the province’s residents. Work has already begun on an ambi-tious plan to build a 90-hectare uni-

versity campus south of the provincial capital. The complex will encompass 10 colleges, recreational areas and stu-dent residences, and will even boast a maritime wildlife reserve. The campus’ 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 im-mediate plans that are already helping students starting from primary school through to the level of technical prepa-ration for employment purposes. One technical school that opened recently is training workers for the country’s hugely important oil industry.

Oriental news科特迪瓦

EcotourismA ‘vegetable sea’, a dolphin play area and whale breeding groundsuThe province has many natural areas boasting species of rare and valuable flora and fauna

Ecotourism can be defined as respon-sible travel, leaving as small a carbon footprint as possible, to unspoiled ar-eas of the world, and leaving little or no impact on such areas as a result of the trip. Popular destinations include jungles and rain forests, nature pre-serves and beaches, which often boast unusual and interesting flora and fauna for travellers to see.

Cabinda, and indeed much of An-gola, has all the ingredients to become a prime destination for ecotourists be-cause of its abundance of lush, tropical forests, beautiful beaches and rich off-shore mammal and turtle populations.

The region’s biggest tourist attrac-tion 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 hospi-table for visitors and more productive for residents, all in an environmentally sound way.

Mayombe is one of the largest ani-mal 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 and Angola also enjoy a wealth of sea life for visitors to see and enjoy. Dolphins, for example, are commonly seen in Angolan waters. These famously friendly and inquisitive marine mammals can be found in the open ocean, but prefer the shallows close to the coast, where reefs and beds of sea grass harbour the small fish, crustaceans and squid that make up the bulk of their diet.

Different species of dolphins will often mingle in large groups and are dif-ficult to distinguish from one another Mayombe Forest is one of the largest animal and plant reserves on Earth

Tourism

A unique cultural heritageuA lush landscape, idyllic beaches, cu-linary delights and artisan handicrafts attract visitors

Tourism can be a boon to countries that are seeking economic growth and the new job creation that comes along with it. Some places have been luckier than others, though, when it comes to possessing the sorts of natural beauty that many people are willing to pay good money to visit.

Cabinda, 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 has made big investments and rapid progress on the infrastructure that is needed to at-tract visitors and keep them coming back.

The regional and national govern-ments are committed to improving Cabi-nda’s infrastructure to benefit tourists and residents alike. The budget for build-ing and improving airports, highways, ports and other projects has more than

BeachesA preserved nature-lover’s paradiseuClean, beautiful beaches attract locals and visitors alike, and are dot-ted with restaurants

Sun and sand are always very popu-lar attractions when people choose a vacation destination. Many travellers, though, aren’t content with just lying on the same old beach they and their friends have been visiting for years. They want to go somewhere new, somewhere different, where they can get a feeling of novelty and adventure along with that nice tan.

Cabinda can offer them all that, and more. The name alone is exotic enough to grab people’s attention, and the long, wide, unspoiled beaches and warm, clean water that is swimming with friendly dolphins and turtles complete the enticing picture.

Travellers can choose to zero in on one beach and stay there for their entire holiday. Or they can travel from one beautiful beach to the next, taking advantage of the compact size of the province, though in either case, they should also take a look at all the other things Cabinda has to offer.

A good, and popular, place for beach goers to start is Futila Beach, located about 12.5 miles north of Cabi-nda City, and easily accessible via the Cabinda-Landana road. The beach is a good destination for sun worshipers who prefer the comforts one would expect from a beach town.

Futila Beach has a restaurant-bar-hotel complex offering suites for swimmers, which is located less than a quarter of a mile from the sea. Holi-daymakers at Futila are frequently joined by the workers from the ex-patriate crowd working in Cabinda’s oil industry.

Landana beach is a good spot to visit for people who want a bit less civilisation. The beach is further from Cabinda City, and though it offers

Oriental newsCabinda

Cabinda’s spectacular beaches line waters that teem with incredible aquatic attractions

tripled in recent years, rising to $250 million last year, from $72 million not long ago.

Those improvements, especially to transportation, will help other industries in the province as well, by reducing the time and cost needed to move around Cabinda. The new hotels and restaurants will spur local growth by providing jobs.

Infrastructure is meaningless, how-ever, unless a country can offer attractions that tourists want to visit. Fortunately, Cabinda boasts excellent destinations that can potentially attract many different types of tourists.

The Mayombe forest, with its vast, unspoiled areas and large primate popula-tion, coupled with the province’s beaches can attract ecotourism, while its culture, food and history can attract a different type of traveller.

Cabinda has never lacked in natu-ral beauty, and it is now being given the hotels, restaurants, roads and other transportation choices needed to draw potential visitors’ attention. One of the final ingredients needed is getting the word out about all Cabinda has to offer.

The central government is doing its part by actively promoting the region in other countries. Angola had a pavilion at the Zaragoza International Exhibition held in Zaragoza, Spain, in 2008. The fo-cus of that expo was water, and it included representations of Bakama dancers from Cabinda. Angola has been present this year at Expo Shanghai, as well, with two main displays: the relationship between nation and water, and the sustainability of urban development.

Bakama ritual dancers wear masks and are present at many Cabindan festi-vals. 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 back-ground, in the sense that the spirits are said to interact with plants and animals without causing them any harm, and because the dancers’ costumes are partly made of biodegradable banana leaves.

As part of a growing focus on Cabi-ndan 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, jewellery, household items, medicine, tools and weapons. The mu-seum is also one of the most important centres 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 an increasing number of people. In 2006, the tourism sector’s sales rose to 39 million kwanzas ($434,000), with 12 million ($133,000) of

that amount coming from hotels. One event that has brought Cabinda

to the sporting world’s attention is the CAN2010 African Nations Champion-ship soccer tournament, which ended on January 31 in Luanda, Angola’s capital city. Three other cities in Angola also hosted matches, and one of them was Cabinda City.

The provincial capital has already benefited from the large investment in hotels, restaurants and a new stadium for the competition, which combined, bring

added value to infrastructure and facili-tate further development in the future.

The region of Cabinda already ben-efits 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 indus-try, in an effort that will attract more and more visitors, whose spending will boost employment and spur the region’s economic growth.

Cabinda has much to tempt the traveller, from its natural splendours to its fascinating cultural heritage

by sight, so researchers have had to carry out genetic studies to more accurately estimate dolphin populations. Along the Angolan coast, they have found not only common short-beaked and long-beaked dolphins, but lesser-known species of bottlenose, spinner, striped and spotted dolphins, as well.

The shallow Angolan coastal shelf is also a breeding ground for humpback and Bryde’s whales, where they raise their calves until they are strong enough to venture out into the deeper waters.

Short-finned pilot whales are fre-quently spotted in the warm seas off Angola, along with their long-finned cousins that were previously thought to stay closer to cooler waters.

Kil ler whales, more accurately known as orcas, are occasionally seen in Angolan shallows and may travel for hundreds of miles in search of food. Beaked whales are more mysterious and difficult to identify, though they have

been sighted at the extraordinary depths of the Congo Canyon where they make their home.

Meanwhile, on Cabinda’s shores, an even rarer find has been made: a popula-tion of Olive Ridley sea turtles has been discovered nesting on Malongo beach.

The opportunity to study the breed-ing habits of an internationally listed endangered species is being taken up by Environment Ministry scientists and researchers from Chevron.

To reduce the threat to the turtles, the research project has partnered with local fishermen who are a deep well of untapped knowledge about ocean fauna and who can take a leadership role in increasing awareness among the com-munity.

The effort to tag, track and protect the vulnerable turtles has already iden-tified hundreds of nests and recorded more than 5,000 hatchlings since the project began.

some bars and restaurants, its popular-ity is based more on its lovely sand and relative remoteness.

For holidaymakers who love the beach, but also want to rough it, Man-darim is the perfect spot. The beach, which is located close to the town of the same name, is a magnet for campers, canoeists and sport fisherman.

Travellers wishing to visit Man-darim will need to bring their own equipment and supplies, and be ready to carry them to the beach from the town. Those that make the effort will definitely not be disappointed by this charming area.

Cabinda’s aquatic attractions aren’t limited to beaches, though. The prov-ince boasts several lagoons and rivers that are also worth a visit for travellers who want to enjoy the natural beauty.

The Sassa-Zau lagoon, about 18 miles north of Cabinda City, is practi-cally untouched by civilisation. It can

be reached via a path that will lead visitors to its delightful swimming pos-sibilities as well as its abundant fishing. A nearby abandoned coffee plantation provides an interesting interlude for people wishing to see remnants of the area’s colonial past.

The Manenga and Tchuquisse la-goons offer more opportunities for ac-cessible bathing and fishing. Both are located in the town of Massabi, and are teeming with edible fish and shellfish. Tchuquisse is linked to the Atlantic Ocean, which means its slightly salty water has produced some interesting hybrid sea creatures.

The mouth of the Chiloango River is another spot that tourists can enjoy. The river is the biggest in the province, and used to be the main route linking the sea to logging camps in the interior. Now its beaches are popular with bath-ers, and the beauty of the area is easily visible from the bridge over the river.