Cuemba - At least six construction companies in Bié province will face legal action in the coming days for not having completed the construction of over 50 social houses, as part of the 200-home project.
The works have been paralysed since 2017 in the communes of Dando and Caiei (Nhârea), Malengue and Soma-Cuanza (Chitembo) and in the administrative centres of Chindumba and Cariata (Cuemba).
The Bié deputy governor for the technical sector and infrastructures, José Fernando Tchatuvela, who was speaking Friday at the government's first technical meeting with municipal administrators, held in Cuemba, said that the construction companies were alleging the rise in the price of construction materials, devaluation of the national currency, access difficulties, mainly in the countryside, amongst others, as reasons for not completing the projects.
According to the deputy governor, the companies (he did not mention them) were notified several times, but never presented a convincing justification, as, at the time of signing the contracts, they had committed to finishing the projects with the agreed amounts, which have already been paid in full.
"Contracts are contracts and should be fulfilled or negotiated and not devalued, undermining the entire effort of the Government at the expense of singular objectives, so the process will be referred to the judicial instances," he stressed.
