More than 8 million euros in credit from the Kingdom of Spain will be conceded to Cape Verde to improve control and surveillance of the country’s coastal zone and to expand the Palmarejo desalinization plant in Praia by the end of the year.

The islands of Boa Vista, Maio, Santiago, Fogo and Brava will receive a maritime traffic management system in order to provide greater security in the coastal zones in a €4.99 million investment financed by the Kingdom of Spain. Cape Verde will pay back the loan over the course of 20 years.

The funds will cover the design, provision, installation and functioning of a maritime traffic system in the country, a system that represents “a great step in terms of security, because it will allow for the surveillance of the entire coastal zone,” according to cabinet spokeswoman Janira Hopffer Almada.

The system, alongside the automatic identification system that already exists in Cape Verde, will allow the country “to fulfill its international obligations in terms of regional security,” while at the same time capacitating authorities to “identify suspicious movement or illicit acts in the zone,” said Almada.

New desalinization equipment by end of year

Another chunk of the Spanish loan - € 3.4 million – will be invested in the Palmarejo desalinization plant expansion project in Praia. The funds will be used to purchase a new desalinization machine with a 5,000-cubic-meter capacity.

“With this expansion, we believe will be able to resolve some 90% of the water distribution problem in the country’s capital,” concluded Janira Hopffer Almada.

This week’s meeting of the Council of Ministers, Cape Verde’s cabinet, also saw the approval of the National Facilitation Plan, which is aimed at creating conditions aimed at facilitating air transportation through a series of procedures and norms.

“The plan will play a determining role in Cape Verde’s competitiveness and in the improvement of air transportation conditions in the country,” said the cabinet spokeswoman.