The projects selected to accelerate the process of diversification of Angola’s economy over the next three years have an estimated cost of US$22.7 billion, Angola’s Economy Minister said recently in Luanda.

Abraão Gourgel, who was responding to questions from members of parliament at the 5th Economy and Finance Commission about specific points of the State Budget for 2015, pointed out that private investors would have raise funds abroad to sustain that amount investment.The minister said the government had identified, for the first phase, 36 projects which would speed up the process of diversification of the economy, with short lead times, of between 18 and 24 months.

“The government has concluded that the speed of the process of diversification of the economy was not satisfactory for the proposed objectives, which is why it has approved a strategy to speed up that process,” he said, cited by news agency Angop.To this end, he noted, the government has identified seven “clusters”: agro-industry and food, mining, oil and natural gas production chain, services, energy and water, transport and logistics.

The identified projects include Companhia de Bioenergia de Angola (Biocom), the Kizenga industrial hub, the Pedras Negras farm, phosphate production, gold mining and the big mining and steel project of the Cassinga and Cassala Quitungo mines as well as the production and export of iron.To this list, the minister added the production of fertilisers, based on gas derivatives, projects at the tourism areas of Okavango, Cabo Ledo and Calandula and the Lobito and Soyo refineries.