The agricultural industry is the “main focus” in Angola of Chinese state company CITIC Construction Co, said Liu Guigen, general manager of the company’s Africa branch.

Chinese official news agency Xinhua quoted Mr Liu saying Angola has abundant natural resources that allow it to develop the agricultural sector but it “lacks capital and production technology”.

The company has already developed two agricultural projects for central provinces of Angola – in Uige and Malanje – with each covering 10,000 hectares, according to the report.

These two projects served as “the first step” in the agricultural co-operation that CITIC Construction wants to establish with the authorities in Angola, Mr Liu noted. “CITIC Construction is pushing forward the agricultural co-operation with Angola on a larger scale and right now we are negotiating with Angola for a 30,000-hectare project of rice planting in Bié province,” he added.

Aside from its engagement in the agricultural sector, CITIC Construction is best known in the African nation for building the Kilamba Kiaxi project; a satellite city located about 30 kilometres from the capital Luanda.

The US$10 billion project included the construction of 20,000 houses, kindergartens and schools, China Daily newspaper reported last year.