Mozambique: Engineers blame constructors for poor quality of works

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Mozambique: Engineers blame constructors for poor quality of works

4:02 CAT | 17 Nov 2020

FILE - Chairperson of the Order of Engineers, Ibraimo Remane. [File photo: .ordeng.org.mz]

The Mozambican Order of Engineers has blamed contractors for the poor quality of public works in the country, reports Tuesday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”.

Two new public buildings have displayed poor construction within the past month. One was the new branch of the Bank of Mozambique in the central city of Chimoio where water poured through the roof into the auditorium, after heavy rain, only days after President Filipe Nyusi had inaugurated the building. Similar problems with the roof then hit the operating theatre in Beira Central Hospital.

Last Friday, the Order of Engineers demanded that the contractor, the designers and the inspecting company should be held responsible for the debacle in Beira.

Speaking to “O Pais”, the chairperson of the Order, Ibraimo Remane, said such problems are the result of the poor quality of the technical staff hired by the contractors. “There’s a lack of contractors with staff capable of undertaking jobs to the quality and standards required”, he said.

He also pointed to cost-cutting. To reduce costs, Remane accused, contractors have been opting to use low quality building materials, and to eliminate some important materials altogether, with an impact on the quality of the final job.

Other problems, Remane said, included corruption and the lack of tests for building materials. “We must pay a great deal of attention to the question of corruption in public works”, he insisted. “It is very easy to corrupt our technical staff and to endanger the quality of jobs because of corruption”.

The Order of Engineers points out that its members are willing to join commissions of inquiry set up to investigate the quality of building jobs, but they are never called upon, and so their expertise goes unheeded.

Source: AIM