Luanda, Aug. 7, 2024 (Lusa) - Angola's government has declined to reveal the projected costs of the planned country's new Political-Administrative Division (DPA), which includes the creation of three more provinces, arguing that it is a "gradual" and "permanent" process of territorial management.

"With regard to costs, this question has an underlying idea that is not the idea we have for conducting the process," Adão de Almeida, minister of state and chief of staff to Angola's president, replied on Tuesday to members of parliament from the main opposition UNITA party. "There is a gradual, permanent process of territorial management. If I have a new province, it has a set of relevant facilities for this province, it's a phased process."

Almeida, who was speaking in parliament during the debate in the committee stage of the DPA bill, stressed that the territorial extension and the "strong demographic pressure" were at the root of the legislative initiative.

He also guaranteed, without revealing the amounts, that the process of preparing the 2025 state budget should already include funds to meet the needs of the new administrative divisions.

The DPA bill, which was approved at its first reading in February, only included the creation of two more provinces, as a result of the division of the provinces of Moxico and Cuando-Cubango, but on Tuesday, at the beginning of the debate, the parliamentary group of the governing MPLA party, which has been in power since 1975, introduced the proposal to divide the province of Luanda into two.

The insertion of the item on the division of Luanda into two provinces - namely Luanda, with 16 municipalities, and Icolo and Bengo, with seven municipalities - was strongly contested by UNITA, on the grounds that this contravenes the rules of procedure of parliament.

Regarding the proposal to divide Luanda province, Almeida argued that it does not limit the original version of the DPA, but, he emphasised, "makes an important contribution to it" and is thus allowable.

"In the specific case of Luanda province, there are several essential elements: the demographic issue versus the provision of services is a critical element," he argued. "Luanda has been growing demographically for a long time and it is unquestionable that the approach to the phenomenon of service provision versus demography needs to be better calibrated." 

During this very heated session, which lasted more than seven hours, MPLA members voted in favour of the initial chapters of the DPA as amended, while UNITA voted against the respective chapters. The other opposition group, the Humanist Party of Angola, abstained.

According to the chair of UNITA's parliamentary group, Liberty Chiyaka, the model for discussing the DPA bill did not comply with parliament's rules of procedure and there was a need for dialogue in order to seek consensus because it was a structural issue for the country.

The DPA bill, which is expected to cover 21 provinces and more than 300 municipalities, will be put to a final reading and vote in the plenary session scheduled for next week, 14 August.

DYAS/ARO // ARO.

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