Tata Mozambique supplying buses to the government again

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Tata Mozambique supplying buses to the government again

8:08 CAT | 16 Aug 2017

Tata Motors Mozambique (File photo)

Tata de Moçambique, a local subsidiary of Tata of India which is 25 percent owned by former Mozambican president Armando Guebuza, has won a public contract worth US$27.6 million to provide 100 ‘machimbombos’ for the country’s public transport system, according to the Zitamar news site.

Company documents dated May 2016 show that Tata de Moçambique is 65 percent owned by Tata Holding, 25 percent by Armando Guebuza and 10 percent by Mozambican Mbatine Investimentos. Company spokeswoman Maria de Fátima Simões told Zitamar News on Monday that she could not confirm whether the information on the corporate structure was current or not.

The exact model of the buses being supplied is not specified, but Tata Motors web page announces that its new model costs 2.1 million Indian rupees or 2.2 million meticais (US$35,889) each, an eighth of the 17 million meticais (US$277,325) that Tata de Moçambique is charging the Mozambican government for each unit.

According to Zitamar data, TATA is a cheapest supplier in the public tender, with SIR Motors bidding US$28.7 million and the Salvador Caetano group US$30.3 million in the Transport and Communications Development Fund tender.

Tata de Moçambique provided the Mozambican government with 150 gas-fuelled buses in 2011, causing controversy not only because of Guebuza’s participation in the company, but also because the company did not guarantee spare parts, resulting in many buses being out of action soon after they started operating. FTC director Simão Mataruca told Zitamar the situation would be different this time because the package includes maintenance services.

Source: Media Fax