Luanda, Dec. 10, 2024 (Lusa) - On Tuesday, a group of Angolan non-governmental organisations denounced various irregularities in the construction of infrastructure carried out under the Integrated Plan for Intervention in Municipalities (PIIM), which is considered to indicate acts of corruption.
At a press conference, the Working Group for Transparency and Truth in the Recovery and Reuse of Recovered Assets summarised the results of six months of monitoring social infrastructures under construction, with the reuse of money recovered in the asset recovery process through the PIIM.
The 62-page report provides information on a number of ongoing projects, highlighting four, three in Luanda province and one in Benguela.
Regarding the project underway in Benguela, on Angola's southern coast, João Malavindele, OMUNGA's government director, focused on the construction of a police station, worth 33 million kwanzas (just over €31,000) and lasting three months, but which has not yet been completed, despite a financial execution rate of over 60%.
João Malavindele said that during the research, they found that both the contractor and the work inspector have no physical structure in the municipality of Lobito. They also emphasised that the administration could not inform whether a public tender had been held.
"The conclusion we have reached is that there was no public tender, and if there was, this information should have been available. The work is valued at 33 million kwanzas (...), but we have concluded that the amount allocated is very large compared to the type of work," he said.
According to João Malanvidele, the report also concluded that "there are companies that are set up just to be part of these processes, to win projects" because many don't have a "track record in construction". The work has been paralysed for a year due to the contractor's lack of financial capacity.
"These issues lead us to question the transparency of the processes for awarding PIIM projects, which is one of the major concerns," he emphasised.
In Luanda, the realities of three projects were presented: the construction and equipping of a 12-classroom public school, the deep intervention on 4.2 kilometres of road, the 7th avenue, in the municipality of Cazenga, and a school in Icolo e Bengo, with identical situations.
For example, the work on the public school, valued at almost 270 million kwanzas (around €260,000), began in 2020, according to Rafael Morais, president of Uyele — Associação Cívica. However, it was embargoed due to a dispute with a bank that claims ownership of the land.
Rafael Morais emphasised that all attempts to obtain information about the work from the administration, the contractor and the construction supervisor have been unsuccessful.
"The lack of response is a clear demonstration of disinterest on the part of the authorities involved in providing public clarification of their actions," he said.
The survey concluded that "there is little transparency surrounding the financial execution of the PIIM," adding that "every year funds are allocated for the construction and equipping of works included in the PIIM, but which are never completed," said Bartolomeu Milton, president of the Pro Bonu Angola association.
"We believe that these practices add up and are repeated in almost all the projects being implemented and are committed to pursuing the public interest," he emphasised.
The president of the Mãos Livres Association, Guilherme Neves, stressed that this monitoring will continue in order to assess "the extent to which this recovered money is really benefiting the communities, what the added value is and why it is being used through the PIIM and not other programmes".
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