Mozambican contractors call on World Bank to ease requirements – AIM report

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Mozambican contractors call on World Bank to ease requirements – AIM report

4:40 CAT | 28 Aug 2025

Screengrab: Miramar

The Mozambican Federation of Building Contractors (FME) has called on the World Bank to ease the requirements that it imposes on national companies when it comes to large infrastructure construction projects.

According to FME Chairperson, Bento Machaíla, who was speaking on Wednesday, in Maputo, on the sidelines of a “Business Outreach Learning Event”, a joint initiative of the FME and the World Bank, national businesses are always interested in participating in the execution of large construction projects, but the World Bank requirements pose an obstacle.

“It is difficult for national companies to win projects financed by the World Bank. One of the biggest problems faced is the mandatory rules, the unbearable requirements. I’m talking, for example, about requirements like proving a turnover of 50 million dollars in a year, which is difficult because no Mozambican company can reach that amount,” he said.

However, Machaíla believes that there is need to improve the technical capacities of Mozambican contractors so that they can be chosen to carry out large scale projects “because foreign companies will continue winning the tenders and, consequently, expatriating profits to the detriment of Mozambique’s development.”

“We also need to consider the development of national companies. Under normal circumstances, Mozambican companies should be the first to benefit from this financing, in order to guarantee local development. When foreign companies win, what naturally happens is that these companies then expatriate their profits to their home countries”, he said.

“There is a need to collaborate so that together we can ensure more efficient, transparent processes with greater participation of Mozambicans”, he added.

For his part, Sidy Diop, World Bank Senior Procurement Specialist for Mozambique, said that one of the limitations frequently observed among private companies in Mozambique is related to challenges in preparing proposals that respond to the World Bank requirements.

“In general, the proposals received by project implementation units do not meet all the criteria required by the tender documents. Other challenges include limited access to financing and some difficulties in preparing documents that demonstrate administrative capacity”, he said.

The meeting was also aimed at training Mozambican businesses on procurement rules for World Bank-financed infrastructure projects.

Source: AIM