State grants loan to society of Maio Cabo Verde
The company set up by the Government and the municipalities of Boa Vista and Maio to provide tourism for those two islands plans to invest 27 million euros in land infrastructure, according to the Council of Ministers.
A resolution of the council of ministers, which entered into force today and to which Lusa had access, authorizes the Directorate-General of the Treasury of Cape Verde to “grant an endorsement” to the Tourism Development Society of the Islands of Boa Vista and Maio (SDTIBM ) in the amount of 750 million escudos "to guarantee the bank loan to be contracted with the national bank".
This bank financing will be used to support part of the investments planned by the company for the two islands, which, according to the Infrastructure Investment Program of the Integral Tourism Development Zones (ZDTI), to 3,000 million escudos (27 million euros).
“This measure arises from the need to respond to the growth and dynamics of private investments in 'pipeline' in Boa Vista, particularly in the ZDTI, as well as to create conditions that facilitate private investment, improved sanitation, health, environmental quality, improvement the business environment, improving accessibility and mobility, promoting social inclusion with job creation and improving the quality of life of the population in general ”, explained in the same resolution, signed by the Prime Minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva.
The establishment of SDTIBM, in 2005, resulted from a partnership between the Government and the municipalities of Boa Vista and Maio, on the respective islands, aiming at an infrastructure investment program to, according to society itself, “improve the living standards of local population and create the most favorable conditions to support investments in tourism ”.
It then provided for investments of 160 million euros, as in the modernization of the existing airport infrastructure, meanwhile reclassified as international after work on the extension of the runway and improvements in the passenger terminal and navigation systems, as well as interventions in the road network, with an additional 3,688 kilometers paved roads, in the production of water and electricity, as well as in distribution, sanitation and regeneration or urban development.
An investment in a new electricity generation plant, with 62 MW of capacity, and a desalination plant with the capacity to produce 21,000 cubic meters of drinking water, was also planned through a subsidiary, Boa Vista. per day.
In the resolution that entered into force today, it is recalled that the Government established in its program for the current legislature, which ends within a year, as one of the priorities “the relaunch of private investment and economic growth in the tourism sector”.
He adds that "the development of sustainable tourism requires the State to strive for the creation of an adequate and coherent ecosystem" in a perspective of "attracting productive foreign investment".
“The due infrastructure of special tourist areas plays an important role in the competitiveness, dynamism and development of national tourism”, justifies the resolution that authorizes this guarantee to the bank loan to SDTIBM.