In a year in which Angola's two main exports -- oil and diamonds -- have plunged, a scene on the outskirts of the capital city of Luanda defies the notion of scaling back in bad times.
Over the last few months, a massive 50,000-seater soccer stadium has risen in Camama where thousands of people live in shanty towns without running water or electricity.
About 900 workers, mostly Chinese, are engaged on its construction. When complete, it will be the showpiece venue for next year's African Nations Cup final.
Thousands of fans are expected to come to Angola to see the tournament, known as CAN, when the continent's 16 top teams do battle. The January 10-31 event will also be broadcast live to millions of TV screens across the world.
A CAN director has put the cost of staging the competition at one billion dollars -- $600 million (421 million pounds) alone is the price tag on new stadiums in Cabinda, Huila, Benguela and in Camama which will host other matches as well as the final.
Millions more will be used to revamp old airports, roads and build hotels across the nation to accommodate the increased number of tourists expected.
"We're working at breakneck speed to have this ready before the end of the year," said Manuel Mariano, CAN marketing director.
GLOBAL RECESSION
Such investment might seem foolish in the face of a global recession. Just last month the government cancelled the World Diamond Summit, branded as one of the most important gatherings of diamond producing nations, in an indication that the industry was losing its lustre.
Yet nothing seems to get in the way of soccer -- a sport the Angolans inherited from former colonial rulers Portugal -- even though Angola's national team has failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
"There are 326 days left for the CAN to begin," a reporter for the country's national public radio announced at the start of the newscast on Wednesday.
Outside, children play barefoot on dirt pitches next to countdown billboards featuring the competition's mascot -- a caricature of Angola's rare giant black sable antelope, playing soccer.
The hype is understandable. It will be the first international soccer competition to be staged by Angola in several decades.
Analysts say the country's hosting of the tournament could also help keep the engine of its economy from stopping now that global demand for oil and diamonds is down.
"Football is a passion for Angolans," said Alex Vines, the head of Africa Research for London-based think-tank Chatham House.
"The investment in the tournament is huge, I agree, but it also means more jobs and it can definitely help the economy grow."
FOREIGN INVESTMENT
The event has also helped attract much-needed foreign investment in new infrastructure and other sectors of the economy as Angola recovers from the almost three decades-long civil war that ended in 2002.
"I feel that investors are looking at the Angolan market with even greater interest than before," said Aguinaldo Jaime, the head of the country's investment agency ANIP.
"For Angola, I believe this crisis is more of an opportunity than it is a threat."
At the construction site in Camama, about 30 kms from the centre of Luanda, hundreds of Angolans and Chinese from the Shanghai Urban Construction Group work around the clock.
The stadium rim is expected to bend like the horns of the black sable antelope -- the country's national symbol. The soccer team is known as the "Black Antelopes."
The Cup, played every two years, was won by Egypt for a record sixth time in Ghana in 2008. This will be the first time a Portuguese-speaking country has hosted the event.
"I'm happy to have a job here, especially when there is talk that the economy is slowing down," said one worker at the stadium in Camama.
Asked if he thought the half-built edifice would be finished in time for the tournament, he replied: "I'm sure it will, the Chinese are building this thing."
(Source: Reuters)
