Chetumal, Q.R. — More than 8 million pesos was raised Wednesday during a government auction in the state’s capital city of Chetumal. Dozens of signed-up bidders participated in the government’s second-ever auction of used vehicles.
The Ministry of Finance and Planning (Sefiplan) held the public auction through the Office of the Chief Officer and the Directorate of Administration of Goods and Services Wednesday.
Interested parties were able to bid on the more than 200 used government vehicles placed up for bidding. During the event, 235 items were auctioned including 211 vehicles and 24 lots of ferrous scrap belonging to various state agencies.
Martha Parroquín, Director of Sefiplan (Secretaría de Finanzas y Planeación), hosted the auction along with other state officials. She said more than 300 people expressed interest, however, a total of 77 bidders qualified to register to participate in the public auction that included local residents and out of town visitors.
“We auctioned off vehicles that no longer provide us with good service, vehicles that have already given their all and due to their age or use, are no longer useful for public service,” she said.
“This way, we can give interested parties the opportunity to acquire these vehicles at very affordable prices. The proceeds are already earmarked. Our goal is to buy back new vehicles that can be used for transportation or to fulfill the functions of various agencies,” she explained.
The vehicles will be awarded to their new owners between October 16 and 31 according to the schedule established by the Directorate of Property and Services Administration.
According to Parroquín Pérez, more than eight million pesos of the nine million they had as a goal, was raised for the government coffers.
“We were pleased to be able to hold a second auction where we were able to encourage everyone to participate and see that it’s an open, transparent process, something that wasn’t the case under other administrations.
“A total of 235 items were auctioned, of which we were able to award 218. We estimated nine million or more raised, but we achieved just over eight million pesos, so we can say that the goal was met.”
The money raised at the Chetumal auction will be used to purchase new vehicles for various government departments including the Quintana Roo DIF, the State Institute of Educational Physical Infrastructure, the Mobility Institute and the Strategic Projects Agency.
