Huíla’s provincial government has raised fresh concerns over chronic delays in the disbursement of public investment funds, warning that slow payment approvals are preventing contractors from completing projects on schedule.
The province’s vice-governor for technical affairs and infrastructure, Hélio de Almeida, presented the concerns to José de Lima Massano, Minister of State for Economic Coordination, during a review meeting focused on the Integrated Municipal Intervention Plan (PIIM) and the Public Investment Programme (PIP).
According to Almeida, the constraints stem in some cases from budget cuts and, in more acute situations, from excessive delays in the verification and formal approval of payments.
He explained that each payment must pass through successive administrative layers, each with its own processing time, and that the cumulative weight of this bureaucracy ultimately determines when a project can break ground.
As an illustration, Almeida noted that a seven-classroom school typically carries a contract of no more than four months, yet the standard process for awarding the contract and approving an invoice can take up to six months — longer than the construction contract itself.
He disclosed that the province has a twelve-classroom school registered under the PIP that was contracted and authorised in April for completion within six months. Work was only set to begin in July, and as of now the project shows zero physical execution and zero financial execution.
A further example cited by the vice-governor was the rehabilitation of the Bombeiros/Bate-Chapa road section, whose administrative paperwork was processed, revised and signed in July 2025, but which ultimately started five months late — at a point when it should already have been finished.
Almeida stressed that Huíla has twelve schools to build, and that if the current pace continues, at least one will only be completed at the end of the five-year programme cycle, potentially forfeiting around 150 new classes that could have reduced the number of pupils currently studying in the open air.
He added that the province’s 2026 project portfolio comprises 63 PIP projects: 39 yet to begin, 14 under way, four suspended and six completed. A significant share of those projects have been absorbed into the Treasury portfolio, he said, meaning they no longer have access to recurrent financing.
Minister of State Massano, for his part, noted that the overall portfolio was performing positively, with a combined execution rate of approximately 98% across both PIP and PIIM projects.
He acknowledged, however, that a number of contracts had encountered difficulties — for various reasons — that constrained both physical and financial execution and, in some cases, led to outright stoppages.
Faced with these challenges, Massano said the priority was to ensure rapid resource mobilisation so that stalled works can be carried out with certainty and so that contractors receive a guarantee that payments will be made on the agreed dates.
The minister of state is on a two-day visit to Huíla to assess projects under execution within the PIIM and PIP frameworks, as well as to engage with private-sector production initiatives in the province.
Source: ANGOP / Original article: https://www.angop.ao/noticias/economia/governo-da-huila-volta-a-reclamar-de-atrasos-no-pagamento-de-obras/
