The need to address the road network crisis that has become evident with the arrival of winter, especially on the South Coast, would lead the Executive to present a request for a targeted State of Calamity, for an amount preliminarily estimated at Q205 million.
During the long weekend, progress was made on this request, explained Félix Alvarado, head of the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (Micivi) during a meeting yesterday in the Congress of the Republic.
“The State of Emergency will help us in the very short term to face one of the defects that we have at this moment and that is that, having the money, we cannot use it due to legal budgetary provisions, however, in the case of the Palín-Escuintla section we have urgent needs that affect and threaten the country’s economy in terms of imports and exports,” the official emphasized.
Until yesterday, Congress had not received an official request from the government regarding a declaration as such, in view of the ravages caused by the winter.
Structure
Regarding the financial breakdown that will support the state of calamity, it was detailed that Q97 million will be allocated to the General Directorate of Roads (DGC) and Q108 million to the State Building Construction Unit (UCEE), for a total of Q205 million.
“Is it enough? Not at all,” said the official, acknowledging that the current budget amount – Q5,791 million, according to Sicoin – of that ministry exists, but the emergency funds cannot be accessed.
“My suspicion is that it is not enough, but it is what we have access to – financially – and I would add that we must all be aware that climate change will only worsen what is now beginning as a difficult rainy season. Next year and the year after will be worse,” he stressed.
For the DGC, in the road infrastructure part, resources will be allocated for the leasing of machinery to perform various civil engineering tasks that require specialized equipment such as front loaders, excavators, dump trucks, lowboy, and other equipment.
A batch of 150-meter Bailey bridges will also be purchased, in addition to addressing the emergency on the Palín-Escuintla Highway and at the problem points at kilometer 44 on the Pacific route.
He clarified that these are the resources available at Micivi to begin to address the emergency, without considering other funds for this purpose.
Credit line management
The minister also reported that a loan request is being processed with the World Bank (WB) for an amount of US$400 million – approximately Q3.1 billion – for the rural roads program.
He indicated that there are different criteria on this issue, but when evaluating the priority of these constructions, it is the same criteria as for primary or secondary roads. “You cannot put a rural dirt road in competition with the road to Puerto Quetzal. There will never be enough people passing through there – a rural road – nor will it provide the benefits of the road to the port. However, for the people who live there, it is extremely vital,” Alvarado exemplified.
One of the justifications for the loan for rural roads is the need for mobility and daily connectivity of people in the province, so these resources would help Micivi to meet the needs of the rural population.
As of July 2, Micivi reports an execution of 29.25% of its budget, for an amount of Q1,694 million, according to the State Integrated Accounting System (Sicoin).
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