Angola makes new steel from old guns

By Kieron Monks, for CNN
4 minute read
Updated 6:18 AM EDT, Mon March 28, 2016
Angola's brutal 27-year civil war claimed over 500,000 civilian lives before ending in 2002. Now, guns and tanks from the war are being scrapped to kickstart a steel industry.
Angola's brutal 27-year civil war claimed over 500,000 civilian lives before ending in 2002. Now, guns and tanks from the war are being scrapped to kickstart a steel industry.
PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Inside the $300 million Aceria de Angola steel mill, north of the capital city Luanda. Angola's first steel mill will draw heavily on recycled war scrap.
Inside the $300 million Aceria de Angola steel mill, north of the capital city Luanda. Angola's first steel mill will draw heavily on recycled war scrap.
ADA
The facility is the largest steel mill in West and Central Africa, aiming to produce 500,000 tons a year, enough for domestic needs and to export.
The facility is the largest steel mill in West and Central Africa, aiming to produce 500,000 tons a year, enough for domestic needs and to export.
ada
K2L Capital Chairman Georges Choucair launches the mill in December. The French businessman has worked in Angola since 1992, and this is his largest venture yet.
K2L Capital Chairman Georges Choucair launches the mill in December. The French businessman has worked in Angola since 1992, and this is his largest venture yet.
ADA
Choucair greeting Economic Minister Abraão Gourgel and First Lady Ana Paula dos Santos at the facility. The project enjoys government support, in the hope it can reduce Angola's reliance on costly imports.
Choucair greeting Economic Minister Abraão Gourgel and First Lady Ana Paula dos Santos at the facility. The project enjoys government support, in the hope it can reduce Angola's reliance on costly imports.
ADA
War scrap at the ADA factory. Thousands of people are employed collecting such material across the country.
War scrap at the ADA factory. Thousands of people are employed collecting such material across the country.
ADA
Angola enjoyed a postwar boom fueled by oil exports, but oil prices have slumped, leaving the economy in desperate need of new revenue streams, which Choucair hopes to create.
Angola enjoyed a postwar boom fueled by oil exports, but oil prices have slumped, leaving the economy in desperate need of new revenue streams, which Choucair hopes to create.
MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty
The government has slashed public spending in response to the oil crisis, leaving garbage uncollected in the streets of Luanda, which is contributing to a public health crisis.
The government has slashed public spending in response to the oil crisis, leaving garbage uncollected in the streets of Luanda, which is contributing to a public health crisis.
STRINGER/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Georges Choucair claims his steel project can help relieve the oil crisis, and tackle social problems such as unemployment and poverty. But skeptics believe the country needs more fundamental change.
Georges Choucair claims his steel project can help relieve the oil crisis, and tackle social problems such as unemployment and poverty. But skeptics believe the country needs more fundamental change.
ADA
Steel appeal: Guns to revive failing economy?
CNN  — 

The remnants of Angola’s brutal 27-year civil war are still littered around the capital city Luanda, in rusting piles of decommissioned tanks and weaponry.

The instruments of death are now being pressed back into use, but this time for a more productive purpose.

War scrap will provide the primary resource material for Angola’s first steel mill - the largest in West and Central Africa - which recently started operations at the $300 million Aceria de Angola facility, 40 kilometers north of Luanda.

War scrap at the ADA facility north of Luanda
War scrap at the ADA facility north of Luanda
ADA

A new steel industry

The project is the work of the French businessman Georges Choucair, chairman of K2L Capital. Choucair has worked in Angola since 1992, in a diverse range of businesses including bakeries, before becoming the country’s main steel importer.

Now, the businessman is producing his own, and is confident he can create a thriving industry.

“Steel is as important as food,” says Choucair. “If you want to build anything, you need steel. I know the market here, and I know the potential.”

The Frenchman estimates that domestic demand for steel is around 400,000 tons per year, which will increase with population and associated development needs. He claims the mill will produce 280,000 tons in its first year, and 500,000 thereafter.

“I believe that by 2020 we will have the capacity to supply not import,” says Choucair. “Angola can be a hub of Africa, and even South America.”

Easing the oil crisis

Angola currently relies on imports for steel - as it does for many other essentials including rice and flour - which have become prohibitively expensive following the collapse of oil revenue.

Oil accounted for 95% of Angola’s export revenue during a post-war boom that saw double-digit GDP growth. But the price has fallen over 70% since 2014, devaluing local currency the Kwanza, and raising the cost of foreign goods.

Sourcing steel domestically from Choucair’s mill could significantly lower the cost of construction projects.

The oil crisis has also worsened social problems such as unemployment and poverty, which are driving a health crisis currently ravaging the country. Angola has among the worst inequality in the world, with the glitz of downtown Luanda sitting uneasily alongside the abject poverty of rural areas.

Luanda harbor - luxury and poverty coexist in the Angolan capital
Luanda harbor - luxury and poverty coexist in the Angolan capital
STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty

Employment opportunities

Choucair says his project can offer new opportunities. The mill employs and houses around 500 people, he claims, with around 2,000 more casual jobs collecting scrap. The businessman believes that training will provide lasting value.

“People need skills and support to make their own money and be successful,” says Choucair.

The mill is supported by the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), as part of an effort to support a shift Angola’s economy away from oil dependency.