Member of Parliament Inacio Moreira has accused the State Secretariat for Public Works (SEOP) of illegally delivering a contract to build the Ira-Bere bridge in Viqueque to construction company Sinco Irmaun.
Commission E (infrastructure, transport and communications) member Moreira said the correct tender process had not been followed.
“There was no design, there was no contract,” he said.
“This project must be stopped, otherwise the government will not pay as the company has no contract”, he said.
About $7.5 million has been budgeted for the project. The ministry is supposed to have information about the project as the budget was approved by the Council of Ministers.
Procurement laws state that projects valued at more than $6 million require approval by the Council of Ministers and the project contract must be sent to the Court of Accountability for approval prior to the project being awarded.
“This is the legal procedure, but it did not happen as (SEOP) did not do it correctly,” he said.
Secretary of State for Public Work Luis Vaz Rodrigues said all protocols had been followed. He said the project was approved as an Emergency Project in 2012 but construction only began this year.
“The project could have been started in 2012,” he said.
“The problem was that the company had no office and even the consultant had no office, so it was postponed until they had offices,” he said.
