Minister of Infrastructures, Transportation and the Sea Manuel Inocêncio Sousa has announced that work on the coastal highway ring around Fogo island is already under way. The engineering office selected to elaborate the project has been working on the island for the past two months.

Now that the project’s financial plan has been concluded, Sousa states that the Council of Ministers has validated an accord between Cape Verde and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, the OPEC Fund and the Saudi Fund, which are financing 80% of the project. The rest of the financing for the project, which will interconnect Fogo’s three municipalities, will come from the State of Cape Verde. The total cost of the highway ring is estimated at 20 million euros.

According to Sousa, the engineering office working on the island “will elaborate the final project by June of this year. The next month, the bid for the actual construction work will take place. We expect to begin work on the highway ring before the end of 2008,” said the cabinet minister.

Manuel Inocêncio Sousa explained that the project will be carried out in two phases, beginning with the Cova Figueira/Patim/S.Filipe/Santo António/Ponta Verde/Campanas/Volta Volta stretch of highway. The second phase will complete the ring, which will run the entire circumference of the island.

The highway will have a total extension of some 80 kilometers and, when completed, will be one of Cape Verde’s highest-quality asphalted roads.

Source: A Semana