Minister of Public Works (Timor-Leste)

The Minister of Public Works (Portuguese: Ministro das Obras Públicas, Tetum: Ministru Obras Públikas) is a senior member of the Constitutional Government of Timor-Leste heading the Ministry of Public Works.

Minister of Public Works
Ministro das Obras Públicas (Portuguese) Ministru Obras Públikas (Tetum)
Coat of Arms of Timor-Leste
Flag of Timor-Leste
Incumbent Samuel Marçal since 1 July 2023
Ministry of Public Works
Style	Minister (informal) His Excellency (formal, diplomatic)
Member of	Constitutional Government
Reports to	Prime Minister
Appointer	President of Timor-Leste (following proposal by the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste)
Inaugural holder	Eduardo Carlos dos Anjos "Kaku'uk" (1975) João Viegas Carrascalão (2000)
Formation	1975 / 2000
Website	Ministry of Public Works

Functions

Under the Constitution of Timor-Leste, the Minister has the power and the duty:

1. to implement the policy defined for the Ministry of Public Works;
2. to ensure relations between the Government and the other organs of the State in the area of responsibility of the Ministry.^[1]

Where the Minister is in charge of the subject matter of a government statute, the Minister is also required, together with the Prime Minister, to sign the statute.^[1]

Incumbent

The incumbent Minister of Public Works is Samuel Marçal.^[2][3]

List of ministers

The following individuals have been appointed as the minister:

No.	Party		Minister	Portrait	Title	Government (Prime Minister)	Term start	Term end	Term in office
1		Fretilin	Eduardo Carlos dos Anjos "Kaku'uk" [de]		Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communications	1975 CoM (Lobato)	1 December 1975	17 December 1975	16 days
2		UDT	João Viegas Carrascalão		Minister for Infrastructure	I UNTAET (Vieira de Mello)	15 July 2000	16 July 2001	1 year, 1 day
3		Fretilin	Ovídio de Jesus Amaral [de]				16 July 2001	20 September 2001	66 days
4			César Vital Moreira [de]		Minister of Water and Public Works	II UNTAET (Alkatiri)	20 September 2001	20 May 2002	242 days
(3)			Ovídio Amaral [de]		Minister of Transport, Communications and Public Works	I Constitutional (Alkatiri)	20 May 2002	26 July 2005	3 years, 67 days
5		Independent	Odete Vítor [de]		Minister of Public Works		26 July 2005	1 June 2006	2 years, 13 days
						II Constitutional (Ramos-Horta)	10 July 2006	19 May 2007
						III Constitutional (da Silva)	19 May 2007	8 August 2007
6			Pedro Lay [de]		Minister of Infrastructure	IV Constitutional (Gusmão)	8 August 2007	8 August 2012	5 years, 0 days
7		PD	Gastão Francisco de Sousa		Minister of Public Works	V Constitutional (Gusmão)	8 August 2012	16 February 2015	5 years, 38 days
		PD (to 2016)			Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communications	VI Constitutional (Araújo)	16 February 2015	15 September 2017
		Independent
			Vacant			VII Constitutional (Alkatiri)	3 October 2017	22 June 2018	262 days
8		PLP	Salvador Soares dos Reis Pires		Minister of Public Works	VIII Constitutional (Ruak)	22 June 2018	22 March 2022	3 years, 273 days
9		PLP	Abel Pires da Silva				22 March 2022	1 July 2023	1 year, 101 days
10		CNRT	Samuel Marçal			IX Constitutional (Gusmão)	1 July 2023	Incumbent	2 years, 43 days