Cape Verde
Cape Verdean ancient town polished for tourism

afrol News, 6 May - The Spanish International Development Agency is at the time involved in two projects designed to foster the Cape Verdean tourism sector. The concrete projects include the construction of a hotel complex and the restoration and rehabilitation of the San Francisco Convent, both in the ancient town of Cidade Velha, the first capital of the archipelago. 

Cidade Velha is a small town, located in the most fertile area of Santiago Island, close to the actual capital, Praia. The historical town is tainted by ruins of churches, a cathedral, a fortress and other elements of the frightening infrastructure of the main trans-shipment port in the Transatlantic slave trade. Despite its history and beauty, tourism barely has reached Cidade Velha. 

Two projects are aiming at improving the town's chances to attract tourists. The first of the two projects, the hotel complex in Cidade Velha, was already started one month ago. According to the Cape Verdean Radio Commercial, the hotel is designed by Portuguese architect Siza Vieira. "One speaks about the first hotel project to be brought about in one of these very rare Cape Verdean sites with abundant vegetation, just at the riverside where the same town was founded in 1462 by the Portuguese," the radio noted.

According to a statement by Daniel Segura, an aid worker within the Spanish Development Agency, the hotel project would provide much needed employment and revenues for Cidade Velha families, living in "a country where unemployment rate exceeds 20 percent. The entire process of constructing the hotel complex will be by subsidised by the Spanish Agency and one expects it will be completed in approximately half a year."

The complex will be endowed with six buildings, constructed along the architectural lines of the area and surrounded by luxuriant vegetation in addition to a restaurant, which also is part of the complex. 

The other Cidade Velha project, which is also partly financed by the Spanish Agency, is the work concerning the restoration of the San Francisco Convent, founded in 1642. The extensive restoration project was commenced in February 2001 and basically focuses on the consolidation of the building. Further, a new protective cover of the convent's chapel has been constructed. 

During the rehabilitation works in the convent, also some archaeological excavations have been carried out. The excavations have unearthed some 18,000 fragments of metal and ceramics, the latter mostly ornamental tiles. 

The Spanish Agency has contributed with an estimated two million euros in the rehabilitation of the San Francisco Convent, which aims at strengthening the tourism potential of the town, and thereby its social structures. The Agency has signalled that it will send a team of tourism and marketing specialists to Cape Verde when the projects are finalised, to assist in the formation of competent local personnel.