The government has accumulated a debt exceeding 14 billion meticais (219 million dollars) to companies in the civil construction sector for works carried out over the past ten years. The statement was made this Friday (31st), in Maputo, by the president of the Mozambican Federation of Contractors (FME), Bento Machaila.
According to Lusa, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with former President Armando Guebuza, Machaila warned about the seriousness of the financial situation affecting the sector, stressing that several companies face an imminent risk of closure. “The debt has worsened greatly over the last decade. That’s why we have companies shutting down,” he said.
According to the official, he recently received information about one of the country’s leading construction firms that is on the verge of closing. “The company keeps its office open only to collect the State’s debts. It no longer knows how to compete because it fears the State will not pay for contracted work,” he lamented.
Machaila also criticized the legislative changes introduced in recent years, which he considers detrimental to national companies. Among the main obstacles, he pointed to the lack of mechanisms to verify the authenticity of documents submitted by foreign bidders in public tenders. “We have reported the presence of companies operating in the country with fraudulent documentation,” he stated.
Another sensitive issue highlighted by the FME concerns changes in quality control standards. According to Machaila, contractors are no longer required to submit material samples to the Mozambique Engineering Laboratory (LEM), which undermines the inspection of infrastructure quality. “Today, we have works of poor quality, many of which have an extremely short lifespan,” he warned.
The meeting with the former head of state was part of the preparatory activities for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Mozambican Federation of Contractors, taking place this month.
Source: Diário Económico
