(Ecofin Agency) - Angolan textile firm Lassola, former Africa Textil, re-started its activities on November 31, 2016, Angop reports.

Situated in Benguela, the plant should produce every year, 1.2 million towels, 1.6 million bed sheets, and 120,000 blankets made with cotton to satisfy the local demand for textile products. According to Yashima Moto, industrial chief of Lassola, it will import in a first stage, cotton from Asian, European and African nations and manufacture itself the thread for spinning. In the second stage, the plant plans to get cotton from the Angolan market.

After having halted production in 2000 due to bankruptcy, the plant was fully rehabilitated and modernised following an investment of close to $400 million. It currently employs 220 Angolan, Japanese, South Korean and Chinese workers.