Nobody wants to take responsibility for the poor quality of public works in Mozambique. If, on the one hand, the contractors blame the companies not affiliated to the federation; the Mozambique Engineering Laboratory (LEM) blames the construction companies; on the other hand, the inspectors accuse the owner of the work of wanting to save money, forcing the construction companies to use inappropriate materials.
In recent years, buildings have been reported to have collapsed throughout the country due to the poor quality of their execution. Other times, large investments are needed for correction or rehabilitation work after delivery.
One of the most recent cases occurred on Avenida Marginal, where a building under construction gave way at a time when it was being concreted, which caused the authorities to stop the work. Some years ago, a building under construction on Avenida Filipe Samuel Magaia, in Maputo city, collapsed taking the life of a guard in service.
In addition to buildings, problems of poor execution are also visible in the road sector where cracks appear on the pavement months after its inauguration. These are situations that require additional investment from the developer.
According to the interviews conducted by the weekly newspaper Domingo the LEM technicians are often not asked to give their opinion until errors have been detected, when the analyses should be carried out before and during the work.
This is what happened, for example, in the infiltration of rainwater in the Bank of Mozambique building, recently inaugurated in Chimoio, Manica province, and in the recently rehabilitated operating theatre in Beira city, Sofala.
