Lack of funds halts completion of bridge in Mocuba

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Lack of funds halts completion of bridge in Mocuba

5:48 CAT | 18 Jul 2018

Photo: O País

The construction of the bridge over the Marmanelo river in Zambézia has come to a halt because Mocuba municipal council has failed to pay the company contracted to carry out the works.

The works started in 2016 and were due to be completed in six months, but the work has dragged on because of the lack of disbursements. Workers on the bridge are adversely affected. “We lament the salary issue,” one of them informs. “We have not received any pay for two months.”

The contractor, Juliasse Segundo of Tumbine Construções, acknowledges the justice of the workers’ complaints and says he is waiting for the disbursement of funds by the municipal council.

But Mocuba municipal councillor Chico Luís says that the works are underway thanks to funding from the Roads Fund, which now awaits the other party’s disbursement. “The first disbursement for 50 percent of the work already happened. At this point, the contractor has submitted the second and final invoice to the Road Fund and is waiting for the money.”

The twenty-metre reinforced concrete bridge will benefit the more than 10,000 inhabitants of the Marmanelo neighbourhood, 12 percent of the population of Mocuba municipality, whose suffering will be considerably eased by the bridge’s completion

The Road Fund was not available for comment.

Source: O País