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Mota Engil’s project delays irk AfDB

 

Multinational engineering firm Mota Engil is under fire from financiers of the Mangochi-Liwonde Road project—the African Development Bank (AfDB)—who wants the contractor reprimanded for delays in project execution.

But Mota Engil has said it is equally concerned with the slow progress and that they are working to meet the financier’s demands.

The concern follows a recent assessment of the project, due for completion in August this year, and other AfDB-funded projects that resulted in a recommendation for warning to the contractor.

Chafunya: We are working on it

As we went to press, it was unclear whether the Roads Authority (RA) had carried out the recommendation.

In an e-mailed response, RA spokesperson Portia Kajanga confirmed the review meeting but said the authority hopes the contractor will complete the road in time.

She also confirmed the Mangochi meeting discussed the Mangochi-Liwonde Road, but was quick to add “the meeting was not called to specifically discuss the Mangochi-Liwonde Road.”

Kajanga further confirmed that the delays in completing the road in time carried financial risks such as increased project costs, but assured the public that the project will be completed in time.

“While it is noticeable that the project has experienced some delays, be assured that the Roads Authority will ensure timely completion,” she said.

According to a joint report by AfDB and RA that followed a Fiduciary clinic—a progress assessment and review—held in Mangochi from January 22-24 2018, the bank is unhappy that just 30 percent of the project has been completed so far.

Reads part of the report: “The RA to summon the regional director and warn him on the dissatisfaction on the undelivered, but agreed things according to the contract [case of Mangochi-Liwonde Road] and the Bank should be represented.”

The report which followed an audit report conducted in June 2017, notes slow progress as a major concern on the road works and subsequently recommends the warning letter plus opening up of three fronts for construction and increase of equipment at the site.

The report indicates that the meeting further reviewed other projects, including the Mzuzu-Nkhata Bay Rehabilitation Project in which the contractor—Strabag International GMBH Company—was praised for timely work, having completed 60 percent of the work.

The report also commended Strabag for other projects in the multinational Nacala Road Corridor Project Phase IV pegged at $42 million (about K30.8 billion).

But in an interview, AfDB country representative Felix Mvula, while confirming the bank’s concerns on the Mangochi-Liwonde Road, downplayed the issue as minor and normal.

“We conduct regular reviews on the projects and indicate our view. We raised a few concerns, but this is in touch with our regular practices. This is normal. But these are technical issues and I cannot go into the details at the moment,” he said.

In an e-mailed response to our questionnaire yesterday, Mota Engil spokesperson Thomas Chafunya said the company was yet to receive a letter from the RA on the delays.

“All parties, including Mota Engil, are concerned with the lag in progress, but we are all aware of the great work that was encountered during the onset of the project. Based on the experience on the ground, most, if not all, drainages had to be redesigned. This means building new huge bridges from scratch and this means the quantities needed to change.

“The Liwonde-Mangochi Road as you know has been having huge problems of flooding and occurrence of sinking drainage system. Mota Engil took a huge task to ensure that the investment being done now should be worthwhile by addressing the issues once and for all,” he said.

In October last year, The Nation reported that findings of the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) 2017  Assurance Report on Construction Projects indicated that costs of tens of projects that had not been started or completed in time had either doubled or tripled.

The cost report further noted that most of the funding was sourced from loans, a development that increased the burden of repayment on taxpayers.

Vice-President Saulos Chilima, who is the political champion of CoST, is on record as having expressed concern over the unplanned financial investments government makes on projects due to cost escalations.

Mota Engil, a Portuguese multinational company, has carried out various construction works in the country since early 2000s. n

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