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Mozambique: Wrong Calculations for Beira Fishing Port
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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
11 December 2007
Posted to the web 11 December 2007
Maputo
Work on rehabilitating Beira fishing port in central Mozambique has been delayed, because the international consultancy hired to prepare the work grossly underestimated how much it would cost.
According to a report in Tuesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", the consultants (a consortium formed by Bangladesh Consultant Ltd and the Mozambican company Tecnica) estimated that 20 million US dollars would suffice to do the job.
But when contractors came to bid for the work, they said it would cost 100 million dollars, five times the consultants' estimate. This came as an embarrassment for the government, which had already secured guarantees of funding from the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) - but based on the 20 million dollar estimate. With the funding available, work on upgrading the fishing port was to have begun this year, once the contractor was chosen.
But now, the huge rise in costs means that there is no date for starting the work.Fisheries Minister Cadmiel Muthemba, interviewed by "Noticias", admitted that something had gone badly wrong.
"At the moment, everything depends on the discussions we are going to have with BADEA", said Muthemba. "A mission from the Bank is due to arrive in the country this month. I have no idea what they will say".
All that BADEA had told the government so far was that the Bank would look at the matter. Muthemba said he did not know whether that meant that they were willing to increase their financial commitment to the project.
"Unfortunately I have no deadlines or any idea of what will come next", admitted the Minister. "I say unfortunately because Beira has the country's main fishing port. This is Mozambique's largest fishing centre".
When the fishing port is not operating properly, fishing vessels use the commercial port, although this does not have appropriate equipment for unloading fisheries produce. But the main problem is that the commercial port is much more expensive than the fishing port, which leads owners of fishing boats to complain that their competitive edge is being ruined.
Naturally the government would like the Bank to increase the amount it is willing to lend for the fishing port project. But the discussions could be very difficult.
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"If the difference was 10, 20 or even thirty per cent, the negotiations would be easy", said Muthemba. "But in this case, we are talking of a sum that is five times the amount available".
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| Copyright © 2007 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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