South32 flags impairment of Mozambique aluminium smelter
Nipepe construction contract cancelled
8:56 CAT | 06 Jul 2018
Photo: Notícias
The Niassa provincial government in northern Mozambique has cancelled a contract with the company Rep Constructions after it abandoned the building site of the new official residence of the district administrator of Nipepe.
According to the daily newspaper “Noticias”, the owner of the company and its workers disappeared shortly after receiving the first tranche of funds amounting to 3.1 million meticais (about 52,000 US dollars at current exchange rates) in August 2015.
The company is based in the city of Cuamba, and several unsuccessful attempts have been made to contact the proprietor. However, without warning three workers recently appeared on site in Nipepe just days before the arrival of provincial governor Arlindo Chilundo for visit to the area. The district administrator Sergio Igua believes that this reappearance is just a manoeuvre to escape criminal charges, and ‘Noticias’ reports that a file has already been sent to the provincial prosecutor’s office accusing Rep Constructions of fraud.
The governor was not impressed with arguments that the owner of Rep Constructions was ill and did not accept that this was justification for failing to honour the company’s commitments.
A further issue is that it is suspected that the 3.1 million meticais paid upfront before work commenced on the 5 million meticais project was a violation of the principles governing the contracting of services which establishes a limit to these types of prepayments.
Source: AIM
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