Chetumal, Q.R. — Several public projects for the city of Chetumal have been put on hold, while others have been severely stalled. This, after the government of Quintana Roo temporarily suspended more than 100 million peso in funding for planned municipal projects.
The projects were set for this year for municipal communities in the rural areas of Othón P. Blanco and Bacalar. Heads of the effected communities have agreed to an April 28 extension that would see a project schedule created by the state secretary of Public Works, William Conrado Alarcón.
The extension was granted after Conrado did not produce the schedule on April 19 as originally agreed.
Some of the projects include the rehabilitation of the highway and harvesting roads in the southern border zone with Campeche at the request of Ejidos. They have been making the request for years, which was finally approved to be included in the 2022 schedule of projects. When complete, it would connect them with Bacalar and Othón P. Blanco for easier harvesting transport.
However, Conrado says the projects are stalled because the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SCT) cut the federal budget for the projects that had been approved.
Another of the affected projects is the remodeling of the Bahía Boulevard and the Cafetal-Mahahual highway. Conrado said that he is willing to provide all the information regarding the companies, contracts and unit costs involving these projects as long as the requests are made through the transparency unit.
His comment came after accusations of being over budget. To that, the head of Public Works said that before issuing opinions, they should make their request for information through the transparency unit “and then they should make their comments, not say that the projects have gone over budget. They need to ask for the information, analyze it and then give their opinion,” he said.
He said that due to the current electoral ban, he is prevented from providing public work information. Conrado also said that the remodeling of Bahía Boulevard is behind schedule because they need the environmental authorities to be present to be able to move forward on the issue of cutting down trees.
The Bahia Boulevard remodel was supposed to be complete March 30. It was later postponed to April 30, and now, to May 15.
