News from Islands
Cape Verdean island to house project to process ethanol imported from Brazil
Praia, Cape Verde, 21 Feb – The island of Sao Vicente in Cape Verde will be home to a processing factory for hydrated ethanol imported from Brazil, which will then be re-exported to Europe, Cape Verdean newspaper A Semana reported.
The investment of around 35 million euros, is the result of a pre-agreement between Cabo Verde Investimentos (CI) and Emerald – Sociedade de Investimento de Angola, and will involve Brazilian oil company Petrobras, one of the biggest companies in the world in the sector.
The economic and financial feasibility study for the factory was carried out in 2010 by the University of Sao Paulo – Economics, Management and Sociology Department of the “Luiz de Queiroz” Higher Education School of Agriculture and Continued Education Programme in Economic and Company Management. (macauhub)
The drive to create the municipality of Santa Maria was taken back up Saturday, February 18, in a meeting of the association founded for the purpose. According to association president Manuel António de Sousa Lobo (better known as Patone), now that the February 6 legislative elections have come and gone, the resumption of work on the dossier, which was submitted to the Cape Verdean parliament in October of last year, must be dealt with urgently.
Saturday’s meeting, according to Patone, is aimed at outlining a new strategy to materialize the association’s main objective – elevating Santa Maria to the status of municipality. Currently, there is only one municipality on the island of Sal, which shares the same name as the island.
“On October 5 2010, we submitted a petition signed by more than 1,200 people to the National Assembly. A copy of the same document was also given to the President of the Republic, the leaders of the political parties represented in parliament and to the Bishop of Cape Verde. We want this issue to be taken back up by our parliament quickly now that the February 6 elections are over,” said the president of the association, which congregates more than 150 members.
The administrative district of Santa Maria is the second-largest on the island of Sal, after Espargos. The city currently counts 10,000 permanent residents and approximately 6,000 temporary inhabitants, made up mainly of tourists. Santa Maria is home to some of Cape Verde’s best hotels, which have a combined capacity of some 7,000 beds – a figure expected to rise to 12,000 by the end of this year.
Source: macauhub
