Mozambique: Machatine gives thumbs down to Cuamba-Lichinga road works

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Mozambique: Machatine gives thumbs down to Cuamba-Lichinga road works

2:02 CAT | 06 Mar 2019

Photo: AIM

The Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, João Machatine, has rejected a 14-kilometre stretch of road rehabilitation works in Lichinga, the capital of Niassa province, northern Mozambique, as inadequate.

Machatine found that the quality of the asphalting and improvements to the rainwater drainage system did not meet specifications.

According to ‘Noticias’, the minister demanded the project designs be resubmitted and that the cost of the contract, estimated at US$12 million, should be borne entirely by the Chinese contractor, Sinohidro Corporation.

Work has been at a standstill for more than a month and is only expected to restart at the end of the rainy season.

Machatine also demanded the replacement of the contractor’s entire team, along with those of Nippon Koei Limited, which is contracted to inspect the work and whose performance the minister and the National Highway Administration (ANE) in Niassa has found to be weak.

The minister understands that, as the owner of the works, ANE in Niassa should have performed its audit function better and not allowed the Sinohidro Corporation to so fail, given that the same company is meeting quality standards in the Lichinga-Massangulo section works, in the scope of the rehabilitation of the 315-kilometre stretch of road connecting the capital and the city of Cuamba.

Source: AIM Moçambique