WHERE IS LUANDA?
Once called the “Paris of Africa,” on account of its flourishing harbor trade and splendid architecture, Angola’s capital Luanda is today more often likened to Dubai, the quintessential oil-fed megalopolis. This is a comparison its elite encourages. 1 The city has erupted in a rash of metal, glass and concrete structures, magazines report stories of Manhattan-like offices and luxury apartments, and the iconic waterfront, the Marginal, received a makeover that reportedly involved the importation of 3000 palm trees from Miami.2 After Saudi Arabia, Angola is China’s biggest oil provider and the extensive deals between the two countries, notably the
much-discussed “oil for infrastructure” arrangements, are in evidence far beyond the offshore platforms that dot the oil-rich basins of the south Atlantic.3 In 2005, one visitor to Luanda noted that the Ministry of Finance building, erected by Chinese contractors, was built with elevators labeled only with Chinese characters (Ghazvinian, 2007).
DW Angola
Development Workshop Angola