Maputo — According to the president of the Confederation, Bento Machaila, cited on Tuesday by French International Radio (RFI), there is a "cartel in the construction area', which creates privileges for Chinese companies, leaving Mozambican companies behind.

"The Chinese are creating a cartel in the construction area, they create companies whose owners are the same, they set the prices (ten companies have almost identical prices and this is to influence the assessment). If the work doesn't go to A, it goes to B. If it doesn't go to B, it goes to C. We're monitoring this and the state isn't seeing it. Jobs are being given to Chinese companies and many of them don't even have licenses', Machaila protested.

"As a federation, we think the state should abandon this because direct awards of contracts are being abused with arguments that are not valid. What is happening is that the direct awards are benefiting a very small layer of contractors', he claimed.

He also expressed concern about the state's debt to the business community, especially to small and medium-sized companies.