Reconstruction of Angola's AfricaTextil 85% complete

14 Apr '14

2 min read

The revival, reconstruction and modernization of the Angolan textile mill AfricaTextil at Benguela, which began in March 2012, is about 85 percent complete, Koichi Nagashima, the director of studies and projects of the contractor told reporters after making a visit to the mill, reports Angolan news agency Angop.

The modernization of the defunct AfricaTextil is being carried out at a cost of US$ 480 million, finance by the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), and is expected to be completed by August this year, according to the official.

At present, around 400 people, including Angolans, Japanese and South Koreans, are engaged in installing spinning, weaving, dyeing, sewing and other machines and equipment.

Once the installation work is completed, the textile mill would have capacity to spin 11,000 tons of cotton per year, and would produce 12 million pieces of towels and 120,000 cotton blankets, among other items.

AfricaTextil was inaugurated in 1974, but manufacturing activity commenced in April 1977. The textile mill is paralyzed since 1998 and was declared bankrupt in 2000. Now the mill is being revived as part of the Angolan Government’s strategy to rehabilitate the domestic textile industry.

The hiring of trained personnel at the textile mill has been outsourced to PCA Alasola group, which would shortly begin the recruitment process, especially for middle and senior level technicians.

The recruited staff would undergo intensive six-month training, as the latest machines and equipment installed in AfricaTextil would require careful handling, said Tambué Roberto Mucais, the chairman of the Board of Directors of Alasola.

Mr. Mucais said that Alasola would give priority to the domestic market for selling products of AfricaTextil as Angola imports large quantities of textiles, and their objective is to reverse the situation in favour of domestic production.

According to him, the revival of the textile industry will promote garment manufacturing, and thus increase both direct and indirect employment. At a later stage, AfricaTextil products may be exported to the neighbouring countries, he said.

He added that the textile mill would initially import cotton as sufficient quantity of raw cotton was not grown in the country.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

More Textiles News - Angola...