Mozambique: Contractors give up, only three currently operating in Manica province: Association | Notícias

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Contractors give up, only three currently operating in Manica province: Association | Notícias

3:31 CAT | 10 Feb 2021

FILE PHOTO - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Noticias]

Since 2015, at least 46 civil construction companies registered with the Manica Contractors Association have closed their doors, allegedly for lack of public and private contracts.

According to association chairperson José Melo Chibante, who also owns the company Africa Construções, Manica province currently has only three companies operating. Most have decided to close down.

Chibante maintains that the lack of state contracts in the region is the result of dishonest state employees diverting public tenders to companies belonging to friends and family.

Chibante cites as an example, tenders for the rehabilitation or improvement of school toilets in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, in which no company from the province was engaged.

“For the resumption of classes, we watched [other] construction companies carrying out the work. Neither was there any subcontracting. But when we look at the signs, the amounts in question are very high,” he said.

Chibante also maintains that most of the companies contracted turn in sub-standard work, because of the bureaucracy involved in the hiring process.

“Many buildings are left roofless by even a small wind storm, and no inquiry is ever held into the contractors who won the tenders to determine their fitness and, if necessary, hold them accountable,” he said.

There have mainly been only direct awards recently, Chibante says, which has contributed to company closures in Manica.

Source: Noticias