The enlargement of the Candelabro water treatment plant in the suburbs of Luanda should be finished in the first half of next year, ready to supply almost 2 million people with potable water, Jornal de Angola reports, citing an Angolan government official, Lucrécio Costa.

The newspaper says the enlargement work is in its third and last phase.

It quotes Mr Costa as saying when he visited the site that about 35 percent the work has been done, progress having been slowed by precautions against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report says the money for the project is borrowed from China.

Supplying Angolans with potable water is difficult because expansion of the supply infrastructure has lagged behind growth in the population, Jornal de Angola quotes Mr Costa as saying.