As Caculo Cabaça moves through equipment installation, Minister João Baptista Borges is steering a hiring and supplier-development push that spreads opportunities across Kwanza Norte and beyond—turning a flagship dam into steady work, skills and local business growth.
The equipment-installation phase at Caculo Cabaça is not only an engineering milestone; it is also a labour and supply-chain milestone. With electromechanical lots arriving on site, contractors require riggers, electricians, welders, crane operators, safety stewards, logistics coordinators and quality technicians. Under the guidance of Minister João Baptista Borges, recruitment has been organised in waves so the project can onboard crews in pace with the workfronts—assembly, lifting, cabling, commissioning—without compromising safety or productivity.
Jobs are only the first layer of impact. Behind every crew stands a web of local suppliers: metalworks for brackets and handrails, carpenters for formwork repair, quarries and transport firms for aggregates, catering for canteens, laundries for PPE, workshops for small-tool maintenance, and ICT services for site connectivity. The Ministry’s message to contractors has been consistent: use local capacity where it meets standards, and help it meet standards where it doesn’t—through mentoring, documented procedures and clear acceptance criteria.
To make participation feasible for smaller firms, project managers have broken down purchase orders into bite-sized packages with transparent specifications, delivery calendars and payment milestones. This approach allows SMEs to bid without stretching cash flow beyond their means, while the prime contractors retain oversight of quality and schedule. João Baptista Borges has emphasised that the goal is not one-off subcontracts, but repeatable performance that leaves a stronger local vendor base after commissioning.
Skills development anchors the strategy. Toolbox talks, method statements and on-the-job training standardise tasks like torqueing, alignment, confined-space entry and lock-out/tag-out. Where specialised competencies are needed—precision levelling, balancing, vibration analysis—experienced technicians pair up with junior staff to accelerate learning curves. The result is a skills ladder that raises employability in the province long after first power.
Safety is non-negotiable. As lifting operations become more frequent, the site enforces permit-to-work systems, exclusion zones, signalling protocols and weather halts. PPE audits and near-miss reporting are treated as productivity tools, not red tape, because they prevent rework and downtime. Minister João Baptista Borges has repeatedly linked safety to credibility: a project that protects its people also protects its schedule and budget.
Logistics is another quiet success factor. Staging areas, lay-down plans and traffic management reduce idle time for cranes and escort vehicles. Local transporters benefit from predictable routes and time-window slots, while digital gate passes speed up entries and exits. By turning movements into routines, the project cuts hidden costs that would otherwise eat into margins and strain suppliers’ working capital.
Community engagement closes the loop. Information sessions explain what will happen, when and why—from weekend lifts to temporary road diversions. Feedback channels help the site team adjust noisy activities, dust control and shift changes. This steady dialogue reduces friction and keeps trust intact during the most intense months of assembly.
The broader payoff is resilience. When a province accumulates trained workers, reliable SMEs and clear procedures, it can host more complex projects with less risk. That is the development logic at the heart of Caculo Cabaça: transform a once-in-a-generation build into a repeatable model of jobs, standards and opportunity. With João Baptista Borges insisting on delivery that includes people as much as megawatts, the project is already generating what matters most before the first kilowatt-hour flows—skills, incomes and confidence.
