The passage of storm Ana through the northern and central provinces of the country caused damage to many public and private infrastructures, with the highlight being the destruction of the bridges over the Rovubuè and Licungo rivers in the provinces of Tete and Zambézia, respectively.
Many critics question the quality of public works.
The bridge over the Rovubuè River, for example, underwent rehabilitation work from 2019 to 2020, after it suffered through the floods of Cyclone Idai in 2019. The rehabilitation cost the state coffers of about 3.2 million euros. After almost a year, the bridge has not withstood the fury of the waters.
In March 2020, Jeremias Mazoio, representative of the National Roads Administration (ANE), told DW Africa in an interview that the bridge rehabilitation works, were designed to ensure the resilience of the infrastructure to natural phenomena. "Which means that if we have water currents of the same magnitude again, they will not damage the infrastructure," he assured at the time.
What amounts were spent on the bridge?
But on Thursday, the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Joao Machatine, came out in public to say that after all "the only structural intervention that was done on the bridge, was the repair of the support elements that were damaged [in the 2019 floods]. So there was no structural intervention from the point of view of pillars, beams, and the deck itself."
Questioned by the press about the amount spent on the rehabilitation of the work, João Machatine justified: "This amount, in fact, was for an engineering work, because we had to lift the decks using jacks and a lot of skill so as not to damage the existing infrastructure."
In addition to the bridge over the Rovubuè, the floods also cut off traffic on the bridge over the Licungo River in Zambézia province, which was inaugurated in December 2021.
The infrastructure of about 2 kilometers, built by the Chinese company CRBC, cost the state 915 million meticais.
Minister rebuts criticism
João Machatine, who by the way was the one who inaugurated the bridge, denies that the collapse of a part of it has to do with the poor quality of the works. "We designed this infrastructure in a hybrid way. You have the bridge part and the embankments and the ramps. The embankments would serve as fuses to safeguard the structural integrity of the bridge," the minister explained.
"I say that with great satisfaction, what we designed to make this infrastructure resilient has corresponded excellently. What gave way were the embankments," Machatine added.
About the Licungo bridge, the Mozambican governor informed that the guarantee contract for the work is for four years, so the contractor will in the next few days repair the infrastructure.
But for the case of Revobuè, the government rules out any liability for the contractor Mota-Engil. "The contractor is held responsible for restoring damages caused by poor execution, and here we are talking about force majeure," it justifies.
The return to the crossing over the Revubue, in a first phase, will be via metal bridges, but it may still take a while, said the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources.
"Minister should resign"
Ivone Soares, a member of the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO), said in an interview with DW Africa's partner STV that the Minister of Public Works, João Machatine, should resign because according to her:
"Because he is morally responsible for these tragedies, because it is the ministry he heads that is in charge of these works. And it was expected that he would say: as I am the minister in charge of this portfolio, I will resign because we are not able to supervise the quality of these works," argues the deputy from Mozambique's largest opposition party.
On the other hand, Ivone Soares proposes the creation of an independent commission to evaluate what failed in the works.