500,000 dollars available for reconstruction of Quelimane Market

Maputo, 22 Aug (AIM) – The municipality of Quelimane, capital of the central Mozambican province of Zambezia, has 500,000 dollars available for the reconstruction of its central market, after it was destroyed by a major fire in March.

According to the mayor of Quelimane, Manuel de Araújo, who was speaking on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the ceremonies celebrating the 82nd anniversary of the elevation of Quelimane to the status of a city, the amount is a result of the municipality’s ability to maintain partnerships with other entities, especially the United States government.

He explained that the total budget includes funding from the Norwegian government and the municipality’s own contributions.

“The project has already been drawn up, the tender has already been launched and the contractor has already been selected. We’ll be laying the foundation stone in a few days”, he said.

Araújo pledged that the market will be transformed into a benchmark infrastructure for the province of Zambézia “and, perhaps, for the whole of Mozambique. Among other improvements, it will have a leisure area.”

The fire that destroyed the market caused the death of one person and 38 people were injured. The fire also destroyed hundreds of stalls.

Araújo also expressed his concern about dishonest contractors, explaining that they do not comply with deadlines and delays in the execution of some public works.

“As you know, for the first time in the last 49 years, we are undertaking major work, such as the construction of concrete bridges in various places. But we have some setbacks, because Mr Víctor Duarte and his company are not respecting the schedule for the construction of the Inhangoma bridge. We had another setback with the Signo Company, which failed to fulfill its contract and we are now in court”, he said.

(AIM)

Sc/Ad/pf (307)