Luanda, Angola, 20 Oct – Portuguese wood industry businesses plan to invest over 130 million euros in setting up saw mills, carpentry workshops and furniture factories in Angola, the chairman of the Portuguese association for the sector said in Luanda.

Fernando Rolin, chairman of the Portuguese Association of Wood and Furniture Industries (AIMMP), said that new the factories would make it possible to build 2,200 new houses per year.

Rolin, who was in Luanda to present the projects to the ministries of Industry, Public Works and Agriculture, also announced plans to build facilities to support the factories, including professional training centres and the creation of new companies in the sector.

Anglogan, a particle-board manufacture, has an investment totalling 56 million euros and Carpintec plans to apply 4.9 million euros to building its factory in Luanda or Benguela.

Painel Móvel, a company specializing in solid wood, wants to invest 7 million euros, whilst Madeiraimóvel, which makes school furniture, is applying 7.2 million euros.

Sercarp plans to move into Angola using investment of 7 million euros and Paviwood, which makes wooden flooring, plans to launch production by investing 8.6 million euros.

Via AIMMP, the companies now plan to carry out a feasibility study on Angola’s forests and initially plan to find regions with wood that is useful for processing and an exhaustive inventory of Angola’s forestry resources is currently being carried out.

“The business owners plan to identify regions in all provinces with potential for wood production, which is essential for the design of the projects,” Rolin explained. (macauhub)