The National Social Security Institute (INSS) took administrative possession on Friday, April 13, of a 16-storey mixed-use building at the Maxaquene landfill site in Maputo on the grounds of the incapacity demonstrated by the construction company Nadhari Opway to fulfil the contract regarding the purchase and sale of property between the institutions. The INSS decision falls within the terms of article 151 of Law 14/2011 of August 10, which states: “If the obligee does not deliver the thing that the Administration should receive, the competent body shall take the necessary steps to take administrative possession of the thing due”. According to the contract signed on 10 September 2014, the INSS had to pay to the company Nadhari Opway 1,544,400 meticais for the construction of the property that should have been delivered 22 months after the payment of 30 percent of the value. After five years, the INSS has still not taken possession of the property, having in the meantime spent 1,330,000,131 meticais of 1,544,400,000 meticais total value of the contract. “The INSS has already paid over more than 90 percent of the arranged price, but the execution of the work is just over 75 percent,” INSS General Director Alfredo Mauaie explained right after taking possession of the property. “Because we are aware of the inability of the promoter to complete and deliver the building, we decided to take it by administrative possession, which is a prerogative that assists public entities via of the 14/2011 Law, of August 10”.

To further worsen the situation, the contractor reportedly demanded a 138 percent increase in the price, alleging that, since the beginning of the works, the US dollar price of building materials has increased substantially. Mauaie dubbed the claim “absurd”. “It has no legal framework and the INSS could not possibly accept it,” he said, adding that, if the construction company ignored the measure taken, the INSS might initiate legal proceedings. In the video below, from March 2016, Nadhari Opway’s Carla Borges explains in an interview to Marcopolis Net how the decision to build the 20 000 m2, 16 storey New Social Security Headquarters was taken. - COM