Siemens Mobility is the German company selected to start construction, this year, of the Luanda Light Railway (Surface Metro), under a public-private partnership, according to a memorandum signed on Friday in Luanda.

The company’s chief executive, Michael Peter, and the Minister of Transport of Angola, Ricardo de Abreu, signed the memorandum of understanding on the partnership during the Angola-Germany Economic Forum, held in Luanda.

The Luanda Light Railway is estimated to cost US$3 billion and, according to Abreu, Angola has a minority stake in the partnership, of around 30%, whilst the other party (70%) is assigned to the private agents interested in participating.

The minister said that as the agreement has been signed the work of the different stages of the project will begin, from both a national and international point of view, and the aim is for the project to start as soon as possible, this year, to make citizens’ life easier.

In terms of a credit line, Abreu noted that they were well defined, at a macro level, and that the first phase is already well developed.

The light railway, which is one of the priorities of the Angolan government, will have 149 kilometres of lines, covering the main routes in the city of Luanda.

In addition to the agreement on the Luanda Light Railway, Angola signed four more memos with Germany, witnessed by President João Lourenço and by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

One for the installation of a training centre of the Voith company in Angola, signed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Toralf Haag, and by the minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, and another for cooperation in the field of hydroelectricity, signed by Carlos Alberto Alves, from Omatapalo – Engenharia e Construção, and Peter Magauer, of Andritz.

Similarly, agreements were for the recovery of national road EN 140 and EN 295 by Gauff GmgH (Germany) and the National Institute of Roads, Planning and Statistics (Angola), as well as for the creation of a “Cash Centre” between the Angolan National Bank (BNA) and Giesecke Devrient GmbH.

The Angola-Germany Economic Forum brought together 10 German companies, Angolan entrepreneurs and public managers.