MozambiqueÔÇÖs government is calling for the countryÔÇÖs businesses to participate in tenders that will shortly be launched for major public works financed by the United States Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
The MCA-Mozambique will shortly launch the international public tenders to a total value of $300 million for the construction and rehabilitation of roads and water sources in the north of the country.
Most of the tenders will not be launched until the fourth quarter of this year; however, next week the tenders will be launched for the construction of 150 water sourcesÔÇö100 in Nampula province and 50 in the neighbouring province of Cab Delgado.
By the end of 2010, the MCA will launch further tenders for upgrading the water supply and sanitation systems in the cities of Quelimane, Nampula and Pemba; upgrading or constructing new water and sanitation systems in the towns of Nacala, Mocuba and Gurue; and upgrading the Nacala dam.
Further tenders will cover the building of another 350 water sources in Nampula and Cabo Delgado, as well as the rehabilitation of 491 kilometres of the main north-south highway in Zambezia, Nampula and Cabo Delgado provinces.
In June 2007, the MCA signed a five-year, $506.9 million agreement with Mozambique designed to increase the productive capacity of the population in the countryÔÇÖs northern districts, with the overall aim of reducing the poverty rate, increasing household income and reducing chronic malnutrition in the targeted districts.
The agreement entered into force in September 2008, formally initiating the five-year timeline for project implementation.
In addition to building and upgrading roads, water sources and sanitation infrastructure, the programme also looks at improving land tenure and controlling the yellowing disease which has severely damaged the countryÔÇÖs coconut palm plantations.
It is hoped that, by 2014, the programmes will have reduced poverty in MozambiqueÔÇÖs Zambezia, Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces by 36.5 per cent. They are also expected to increase household income by 30 per cent and reduce malnutrition among children under the age of five by 28 per cent.
It has been emphasized that companies from Mozambique will have to compete on an equal footing with foreign companies and should not expect any preferential treatment. Sub-contracting and consortia are permitted, however, so companies who cannot compete on their own are being encouraged by the government to compete on this basis.
In total so far MCA Mozambique has signed contracts worth a total of $93.2 million.
