The Mozambican Federation of Contractors (FME) is demanding that the government ban a Chinese company from carrying out public works in the country, after the Public Prosecutor’s Office recommended the suspension of a tender awarded to the company due to irregularities. The tender in question refers to road construction work in the municipality of Matola, southern Mozambique, as part of the urban mobility project for the Maputo metropolitan area, financed by the World Bank to the tune of 250 million dollars (229.9 million euros).
According to FME, the Chinese company in question had already had a tender won in Inhambane province annulled by the judicial authorities for alleged involvement in scams. The president of FME, Bento Machaíla, said that the Chinese company is a repeat offender in practices that harm the environment of competition, transparency and participation in public works tenders.
As well as requesting that the Chinese company be banned from contracting with the state, FME also intends to open disciplinary proceedings with the Licensing Commission for Civil Construction Contractors and Consultants, at the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, for serious and repeated breaches of its duties as a contractor.
The FME also denounces evidence of violations of the procurement rules by the bidder declared the winner by the Ministry of Transport and Communications in the tender, which was the subject of suspicions raised by the Central Office for Combating Corruption. The federation also claims that a senior official interfered in the results of the tender, without being part of the jury.
Bento Machaíla pointed out that the FME has questioned the actions of the procurement management units in state institutions, which, according to him, have made decisions in favor of foreign companies that do not meet the eligibility requirements in public works contracting processes, harming national companies, especially small and medium-sized construction companies.
FME claims that there is a favoritism towards foreign companies that use loopholes in Mozambican legislation to gain advantages in public tenders, to the detriment of national companies.
