Mozambique: NGO urges revocation of Maputo Ring Road concession

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Mozambique: NGO urges revocation of Maputo Ring Road concession

2:57 CAT | 17 Jan 2022

Photo: CDD Moçambique

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), a Mozambican non-governmental organization (NGO), is urging the revocation of the Maputo Circular Road concession, for which toll booths are currently being installed, on the grounds that the process “did not observe essential principles of public administration”.

“There is an urgent need for a public campaign for the Government to immediately revoke the decree through which the Maputo Ring Road and its concession contract was granted,” a CDD press release says.

The non-governmental organization considers that the road concession process and the respective contract did not observe “essential principles of public administration action” as regards legality, public participation and transparency.

According to the NGO, the process was not in the public domain, nor did it involve the participation of Mozambicans or civil society entities, preventing its “proper supervision”.

On the Maputo Ring Road, under concession to Rede Viária de Moçambique (REVIMO), construction works are taking place on four tolls, a development contested by the CDD, which considers that the criteria for installing tolls “are not clear and do not comply with the fundamental objectives of the State”.

“The concession process jeopardises citizens’ living conditions and violates their rights to social justice and development. The toll stations aim to loot citizens’ pockets,” the CDD claims.

The NGO questions the interests of the concessionaire company REVIMO, saying that the public “does not know its organizational structure and the circumstances in which it was created”.

The Maputo Ring Road, the biggest road project in the Mozambican capital, was started in 2012 and comprises about 70 kilometres of roadway, including six bridges. The project, which will cost more than US$300 million, is being funded by the Exim Bank of China.

Source: Lusa