Lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho wants the government to give more public construction contracts to local engineering companies instead of mainland-based ones, he said in a written inquiry to the government sent through the Legislative Assembly (AL).
In the inquiry, Pereira Coutinho notes that recently, the Infrastructure Development Office (GDI) has directly awarded the contract for the design and construction of the “Elderlies Residence” apartment building to China Construction Engineering (Macau) Co., Ltd. in a decision that left the local engineering companies unhappy, since they claim to have the capacity to perform the work.
Pereira Coutinho claims that this is another case of unfair competition practice which adds to many of the others that have occurred in the past few years, as demonstrated by the expansion works of the six gaming concessionaires and other small to medium-sized works.
The lawmaker claims that state-owned companies submit proposals with a very low cost or even at a loss, then take advantage of non-resident workers by using them to perform construction at a cheaper price as these companies “have no limits for the hiring on non-residents.”
Due to this, local companies have difficulties competing with big state-owned companies. This also occurs in sectors such as interior design, conventions, exhibitions, and cleaning and security, according to Pereira Coutinho. He noted that this is “suppressing the development of local companies in these sectors.”
The lawmaker urges the government to end what he calls a “market monopoly” by state-owned companies, calling on authorities to survey the market for this phenomenon and find solutions that allow local small and medium-sized enterprises to compete on equal terms.
No Comments