Maputo, March 19, 2026 (Lusa) - Mozambican contractors on Thursday accused the World Bank of allowing poor construction in the country by withholding two-year-old investigation results into a Chinese construction company awarded public works in Mozambique.
"The prolonged silence, combined with the refusal to provide information, creates a perception that the Integrity Vice Presidency (INT) [the World Bank group's independent investigative arm] is protecting bad practices and bad actors, rather than promoting transparency and accountability," Bento Machaila, chair of the Mozambican Federation of Contractors (FME), told a press conference in Maputo.
The complaint submitted by the federation to the Central Office for Combating Corruption (GCCC), part of the Attorney General's Office, involves the hiring of a Chinese construction firm. It alleges irregularities in a 2024 contract awarded to the firm to execute construction work in the municipality of Matola in the south of the country.
The work is funded by the World Bank and is worth $250 million (€230 million) as part of the Maputo metropolitan area urban mobility project under the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The GCCC suspended it for irregularities while a two-year investigation continues.
In January 2024, contractors asked the government to ban the Chinese company from state construction works. They warned the Licensing Commission for Civil Construction Contractors and Consultants, at the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources (MOPHRH), that they would request disciplinary proceedings for serious and repeated violations of its duties as a contractor.
Bento Machaila said Mozambique's GCCC supported the suspension of the contract at the time, starting investigations coordinated with the World Bank’s INT. However, he says that two years later, the institutions remain silent and refuse to share the results with third parties.
"The FME receives this response with vehement repudiation. The FME is not a third party in this process. The FME is the complainant. The process began based on the information we provided and the trust placed in the World Bank’s supervision capacity," Machaila said, calling the situation "unacceptable for several reasons and a sign of disrespect for the complainant".
The FME believes the INT’s refusal to share results "breaks a basic principle of institutional good faith and discourages any citizen or organisation from collaborating in the future". He added: "The message conveyed is that reporting is useless".
The FME chair said he still believed the process would follow its proper course and called for the public disclosure of the results by the two institutions involved. He said that withholding information only benefits corruption and bad governance.
"We demand a clear public response from the World Bank. Despite the discouragement caused by the Integrity stance, the FME expects the Attorney General's Office, as a sovereign national institution and guardian of legality, to provide the follow-up the matter deserves, leading the process to its fair conclusion and ensuring that the promoters of these practices are held accountable," he added.
He said on Thursday that, given the INT's silence, the population of the Maputo metropolitan area is confronted daily with the visible consequences of poor-quality work.
The contractors concluded that selecting bidders without transparency leads to poor-quality work, which is then affected by frequent rains that wash away roads and restrict mobility.
VIYS/ADB // ADB.
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