The subsidiary in Angola of Chinese state-owned Sinohydro Corp. will soon begin building a new airport to serve the northwestern Angolan city of Mbanza Kongo, Angop reports, citing the operator of Angolan airports, SGA.

The airport will cost 89.9 billion kwanzas (about US$150.6 million), SGA President Nataniel Domingos is quoted as saying in a report carried by the Angolan state-run news agency last Saturday.

Mr Domingos said the airport would be capable of handling two Boeing 737 airliners and two light aircraft, all at the same time.

The terminal will have capacity for 600 passengers, the report says.

It says the facility will be 30 km from the historic centre of Mbanza Kongo, capital of the province of Zaire.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) called for a new airport to serve Mbanza Kongo when it added the city to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017, Angop says.