"The constraints that prevent the inauguration and opening of the Dom Alexandre Cardeal do Nascimento national school should be overcome, after the inspection visit by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, this Saturday, April 12", informed CIPRA, in a statement to which VerAngola had access.
The project, which is located in Morro Bento (urban district of Samba, in Luanda), "lacks the construction of basic sanitation infrastructures for the drainage and treatment of wastewater and rainwater from the surrounding areas, which makes its inauguration unfeasible".
On Saturday, the head of state visited the future school, whose construction effectively began in April 2018, after former president José Eduardo dos Santos laid the first stone in August 2017.
At the end of the visit, João Lourenço, accompanied by "his assistants, held a meeting with the project's promoters, the Prosperar Foundation, established by the Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST)".
After the meeting, the president of CEAST, Bishop Dom José Manuel Imbamba, stated that the future school "will start operating from the next school year, taking into account the recommendations left by President João Lourenço", reads the note.
Speaking to the press, José Manuel Imbamba expressed satisfaction with the progress of the project.
"We are happy to know that, finally, not only the complex, but the entire neighborhood will have this intervention so that basic sanitation in this region flows without major constraints," he said.
The vice-governor of the province of Luanda for Technical Services and Infrastructure, Calunga Quissanga, assured that the works would start soon: "We have now received authorization from above for the works to begin. From Monday onwards, we will begin to mobilize the resources for this project to begin", he stated.
"The Dom Alexandre Cardeal do Nascimento complex is a project in homage to the only Angolan cardinal the country has ever known, which is being carried out with the support of the Angolan State for its construction," says the statement, which adds that it is a "private national Catholic school that offers classes from preschool to 12th grade for around 1800 students, non-profit, with an excellent educational project with a Christian humanist matrix."
The school infrastructure has a "central block that houses the administrative area – secretariat, meeting rooms, management offices, teachers' rooms, back office rooms and archives –, including infirmary, media library, kitchen, cafeteria, pastry shop and bakery".
It also has "three teaching blocks with 77 rooms, including laboratories, art and music rooms, a multipurpose room with space for multicultural exhibitions, two multipurpose sports courts and a 7-a-side football pitch with an athletics track".
The complex also comprises "a 25-metre semi-Olympic swimming pool, technical areas with a group of 800 KVA generators, a water treatment plant and supply reservoirs with a capacity of 1500 cubic metres, an electricity transformation station and lifts distributed throughout the various areas built at height", as well as "a teacher training centre with 27 rooms, with the capacity to accommodate 564 trainees per shift, which can operate in three shifts, and has a sophisticated amphitheatre with capacity for 165 people".
