Lubango - The minister of Environment, Ana Paula de Carvalho, is on a work visit to the southern Province of Huila since Thursday, aiming to assess the state of the Bicuar National Park and point out solutions to attract investments in tourism and generate revenues for local development.
Speaking to the press at the end of a meeting with the governor of Huila, Nuno Mahapi, as part of her visit, the minister said that the aim is to assess the real need for animal repopulation, rehabilitation and construction of infrastructure, supervision services and access roads.
Ana Paula de Carvalho stated that they will visit the park because they want the conservation areas to generate tourism, but there is still a lot to be done, as the idea is, on the basis of the gaps that are registered, to subsequently improve the services to attract tourists.
The minister also noted that they will thoroughly check the situation of solid urban waste in Lubango Municipality, as there are no landfills in Huila and the waste is deposited in a controlled dump, which contaminates the soil.
She added that they should also work on environmental education, selective collection of waste for its recovery so it can have a longer useful life when it arrives at the landfill.
Ana Paula de Carvalho expressed interest in identifying together with the authorities, a place to build the landfill, to see the main rubbish dump in Lubango Municipality so that they can also work towards sealing off this dump when the cell is ready.
On his turn, the governor of Huila, Nuno Mahapi Dala, stressed that the aim of the local government was to make the Bicuar park a tourism power not only for the province, but for the Southern region as well.
In terms of solid waste, he said that the aim of Huila government was not only to deal with Lubango, but also Matala and Caluquembe, as they are municipalities with a high number of inhabitants and generate a lot of waste.
After the meeting, the minister and Huila governor travelled to the park, where Ana Paula de Carvalho plans to carry out a thorough check by Friday.
The Bicuar National Park is 165 kilometres off the city of Lubango, in an area of 7,900 square kilometres, occupying land in the municipalities of Quipungo, Matala, Chibia and Gambos. It was created with the aim of protecting and defending several wild animals.
The park, which is supervised by the Ministry of Environment, was established as a game reserve in 1938 and elevated to a National Park in December 1964.
The reserve has large herds of different animals, such as elephants, antelopes, African wild dog, hyenas, bambis, among others, plus a range of birds and healthy flora; there is no charcoal or timber production, but on the other hand it has animals deemed in danger of extinction species such as zebra, bubalus, bushbuck, ostrich, impala and gazelle.
