The Mozambican Federation of Contractors (FME) is demanding criminal and disciplinary action against public officials and a Chinese company involved in corruption schemes for the award of road construction contracts in Matola, valued at 250 million dollars.

Today in Maputo, the group denounced the existence of foreign companies operating in Mozambique and which, in the course of public tenders, omit prices for operating costs in order to position themselves with lower values among competitors and thus win projects or contracts.

The president of the Mozambican contractors, Bento Machaila, made the complaint in reaction to the suspension by the Central Office for Combating Corruption of a contract award process for road construction in Matola.

It is suspected that there has been a breach of public procurement rules for the Urban Mobility project in the Maputo Metropolitan Area. A Chinese company was in charge of the works.

He clarified that FME is not against the presence of foreign companies in the country, including Chinese ones. The main concern is with non-compliance with the requirements of the contracting rules and possible favoritism in the processes.

"Its increasing prevalence is eliminating competition, pushing national companies to close down their activities, leading to thousands of workers becoming unemployed," he said, quoted by the Radio Mozambique.

He revealed that there are lawsuits against Chinese companies in collusion with the case, including an official from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, who interfered in the process without being part of the jury.

The contractors are demanding a statement from the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the World Bank, as the promoter of the tender and the financier of the project, respectively.

"The FME will ask these two institutions to hold the employees accountable, as well as informing them of the steps that will be taken to prevent similar situations from occurring in future hiring processes," he promised.