Mozambique: NGO considers government international fuel tender ‘tainted’

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Mozambique: NGO considers government international fuel tender ‘tainted’

3:47 CAT | 21 Aug 2020

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), a Mozambican non-governmental organisation (NGO), said the international tender launched by the government for the selection of a fuel marking company tainted due to suspicions of lack of transparency.

In an analysis it released on Friday, the CDD stated that the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (Mireme) of Mozambique was forced to suspend the tender, launched on 22 June this year, following legal action by the consortium led by the Swiss company SICPA, also a competitor and that it feels damaged in the process.

SICPA is the company that currently makes the marking of fuels in the country, after having been selected in 2017 by the Mozambican government and intends to renew the contract, citing a clause in the first contract it signed with the government.

The DDC stated that the firm has challenged the operation because it believes that Mireme has distributed different documents to the bidders, prejudicing the applications of some companies.

That civil society organisation said that the new tender was launched because of a lobby undertaken by figures close to the elite in power.

SICPA contested the competition before the Administrative Court of the City of Maputo, having obtained from this instance the decision to suspend the process until final judicial deliberation.

Mireme’s source told Lusa that the institution will not rule on the case, since the matter is in court.

Also heard by Lusa, SICPA declined to talk about the issue, stating that it is being dealt with in court.

In the announcement of the launch of the contest in June, Mireme said that the mark is made by placing a chemical product in imported fuel for domestic consumption and the absence of this mark is considered evidence that the product entered the country through smuggling.

Fuel in transit to southern African countries that depend on Mozambican ports for their imports is not subject to marking, the note said.

The winning firm or consortium will operate from the ports of Maputo, in the southern region, Beira and Quelimane, central and Nacala and Pemba, in the north, said the statement from Mireme.

The company will be responsible for conducting quality tests to stop fuel adulteration.

Mireme stated that it intends to ensure fair competition between the different operators in the liquid fuel import and marketing chain in Mozambique and to guarantee efficiency and effectiveness in tax control and the collection of taxes and fees at reception terminals and retail outlets.