The Angolan Government has awarded two Chinese firms contracts worth a total of US$223.5 million in order to improve the nation’s water supply networks, online news portal Macauhub reported this week.

According to the presidential orders, an Angolan subsidiary of China’s state-run CGC Overseas Construction Group is to be paid US$60 million to bolster the water supply infrastructure in the central coast province of Kwanza-Sul.

A local subsidiary of another Chinese state-owned firm, Sinohydro Construction, was granted two contracts worth an aggregate of US$163.5 million for the construction of a water supply network in Huambo province in the centre of the country.

The works are to be financed from China’s US$6-billion credit line with Angola according to the report. The credit deal was agreed when Angola’s President, José Eduardo dos Santos, visited China in June.