Storm reveals poor quality of new Bank of Mozambique branch – O País

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Storm reveals poor quality of new Bank of Mozambique branch – O País

4:45 CAT | 14 Oct 2020

Photo: O País

President Nyusi inaugurated the latest, 571 million meticais, branch of the bank of Mozambique in Chimoio last Friday amid voices praising the project as one of the most emblematic buildings in the Manica capital.

The Governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Rogério Zandamela, was impressed, extolling the modern architectural style building as resilient to any storm.

“The Chimoio branch building was developed using the offices of former Banco Nacional Ultramarino, and has a total paved area of 10,000 square meters, combining the standards of modern architecture, beauty, comfort and resilience to climate change,” Zandamela said.

A claim Nature soon put to the test with a downpour on Saturday, not 24 hours later, and the building’s roof, judging by amateur footage circulating on social media, showed precious little ‘resilience’ at all.

The situation caused the Soares da Costa Moçambique construction company to issue a statement.

“We must mention that the concrete beams, which support the slab ceiling of the auditorium, are original to the construction of the former building of the Banco Nacional Ultramarino, and consist of very porous reinforced concrete. During the rehabilitation, and following the instructions of the Inspection / Project Designer, waterproofing was carried out with asphalt screeds on the upper surface of the slab, raising the screed to the level of the beams, which at the time was considered appropriate. Now, with the water level rising above the finishing level of the lower screeds, and due to the nature of the existing concrete as outlined above, water infiltrated in considerable quantity, manifesting itself on the interior ceiling of the auditorium,” it explained.

Technical arguments aside, the truth is that the building showed it weaknesses after only 15 minutes’ rain in Chimoio last Saturday.

The images ‘flooded’ social media. Lawyer Faizal Castigo says that the situation reveals a lack of clarity in the contracting process, and that it is necessary to find a solution.

“We are in a situation of contractual non-compliance, albeit partial non-compliance, taking into account that the work has been carried out, but it has its defects. It is now up to the Bank to activate the guarantee so that the contractor can correct the definciencies,” he said.

Castigo concedes that, moreover, the image of the Bank of Mozambique has been tarnished, bearing in mind that import personages witnessed the inauguration of the building and testified to a quality it in fact proved not to possess.

By Carlitos Cadangue

Source: O País