Calai - Calai town in Cuando Cubango province celebrated, on Sunday, its 62nd anniversary, since it ascended to the category of Town, on May 12, 1962, with a focus on cross-border tourism.
This investment, resulting from the fact that it is in a border area with Namibia, aims to contribute to the diversification of the national economy.
The municipality of Calai, one of the four that borders Namibia, along with Cuangar, Dirico and Rivungo, is part of an important corridor in Southern Africa, as it connects Angola to the neighboring country in question and is part of the main Conservation Project of Okavango-Zambezi biodiversity.
For this reality to actually happen, the circulation of people and goods in this corridor, part of Angola, specifically on the Cuando Cubango side, must become possible, through the urgent construction of National Road 140, which Menongue/Cuangar to the Calai headquarters.
By the way, the vice-governor for Technical Services and Infrastructures of Cuando Cubango, João Bonifácio Cassanga, indicated that technical and administrative work is advanced for the construction of the road and this ambitious tourism development project can be implemented.
He said that several works are underway to ensure that, with tourism, the municipality of Calai contributes to the diversification of the country's economy, highlighting, in this particular, the arrival, last January, of a vast group of international tourists, including researchers, to the municipality, to boost the sector in that district.
Therefore, the vice-governor invited national and foreign investors to participate in the promotion of cross-border tourism and the agro-industrial sector, with the aim of making Calai a progressive territory, taking advantage of its immense potential, depending on the opportunities.
“Calai offers great business opportunities, as it is located in a privileged area, supported by wonderful fauna and flora. Its history is a path of the country's development, as a Rule of Law and Democracy”, said the person in charge.
Regarding the execution of PIIM, to improve social conditions for the population and administrative managers, João Bonifácio Cassanga highlighted the construction of a school with seven classrooms and an apartment module at the town's headquarters, construction and equipping of the Mawé communal administration, a residence for the administrator and a communal jango, still in this communal area.
In the agricultural sector, it recognized the engagement of the peasant population of Calai in the production of rural products, which is beneficial for combating poverty in communities, hence the Government's commitment to distributing seeds and other agricultural inputs, for this purpose, taking advantage of water resources and arable land.
On the occasion, he highlighted the entrepreneurship fair that will be promoted in the town, in celebration of the anniversary, as a brilliant initiative, as it will generate income and temporary employability, encouraging, on the other hand, the practice of sports as it is one of the forms of social inclusion.
Before members of the Government, traditional and religious authorities and citizens in general, João Bonifácio Cassanga, said that May 12, 1962, celebrated this year under the motto “Calai, satellite municipality of the province of Cuando Cubango”, is of crucial importance for the local people.
For her part, the administrator of Calai, Adélia Muambeno Samuel, hopes that the population can lively celebrate the town's 62nd anniversary and that it becomes a model of political, social and economic space that inspires and teaches each of its inhabitants and everyone who as they pass by, among tourists and travelers.
It should be noted that the municipality of Calai is one of nine in the province of Cuando Cubango, with three communes, namely the headquarters, Mavengue, which is 100 kilometers away from this municipal headquarters, and the commune of Mawé, 145 kilometers away.
It has an extension of seven thousand and 865 square kilometers and an estimated population, according to the last Population Census of 2014, of 21 thousand and 429 inhabitants.
To the north it borders the municipality of Naconva, to the east with the municipalities of Mavinga and Dirico, to the south with the Republic of Namibia, through the Cubango river, which is navigable and with acceptable conditions for sport fishing, and to the west by municipality of Cuangar.
The festivities opened with a pyrotechnic and musician – culture show, whose program includes sporting activities such as motorbike racing, football, welas games, a fair displaying local products and selling food and drinks, among others. FF/ALH/TED/DOJ
