Bengo: The President of the Republic, João Lourenço on Monday unveiled the first phase of the Teresa Afonso Gomes satellite city, located in the Caxito city, nrthern Bengo province.
This initial phase executed the construction of 80 buildings, 72 of which house shops and 486 homes, eight of which are single-storey houses, as well as health centres, police stations and a 24-class primary school.
The second and final phase will execute the construction of a further 78 buildings of different types, totalling 1,000 homes, including 946 flats, 30 single-storey houses and 72 shops.
The first 486 housing units, of the 1,000 planned, will mainly benefit civil servants, with a quota earmarked for young people.
The housing project is the second in Bengo province, after the Capari Centre, the first to come into operation, with 4,000 housing units.
The centre, which will be called "Teresa Afonso Gomes" in honour of the heroine who took part in the national liberation struggle, has a total of 1,000 homes, including 946 flats, 30 houses and 72 shops. It comprises three-bedroom, four-storey buildings.
The Satellite city also includes various social structures such as primary and secondary schools, a health centre, a police station, a multi-purpose field, a kindergarten and an 11-a-side football pitch.
Authorised by the President of the Republic, through Order No. 54/21, of 29 April, the Centralidade was budgeted at 182.9 million US dollars, plus 4.5 million dollars for the supervision contract.
Honouring Teresa Afonso Gomes
Teresa Afonso Gomes was born in Nabuangongo in 1946 and died in March 1967 at the Quincuzo Base (Congo Kinshasa), now the DRC.
The daughter of peasants, Teresa Gomes only completed primary school and, from an early age, supported the guerrillas who fought in the MPLA's first political-military region.
In 1965 she attended a course at the Centre for Revolutionary Instruction (CIR) in Dolisie and joined the "Kamy Squadron" (a guerrilla column made up of fighters from the People's Liberation Army of Angola (EPLA).
This squadron was particularly well known for including five women guerrilla founders of the OMA, namely Deolinda Rodrigues, Engrácia dos Santos, Irene Cohen, Lucrécia Paim and Teresa Afonso Gomes (the honoured one).
Construction work on the centre began in February 2022 and will generate approximately 1,350 new direct jobs.DC/VIC/VM/DAN/DOJ
