Maputo — The Provincial Directorate of Education and Culture in the central Mozambican province of Sofala has referred for prosecution 35 cases of companies failing to complete public works, reports Friday's issue of the daily newspaper "Noticias".

The cases concern contractors who abandoned the construction of 274 classrooms between the years 2005 and 2010.

According to the director of Education and Culture in Sofala province, Pedro Mbiza, the province has the country's worst record for failing to complete contracts to build classrooms, and he would like to see the guilty companies severely punished.

Mbiza stated that not only are the companies being taken to court, but they will also being banned from receiving new contracts.

This year the Sofala directorate of Education and Culture plans to construct 98 classrooms using building firms that have bank guarantees, so that they will not receive payment before construction begins.