One of the agreements reached by the members of the Infrastructure Commission of the Regional Council of O’Higgins was to notify the President of the Republic and the Minister of Public Works about what they describe as inefficiency on the part of the Road Department of the Regional Secretariat of the MOP, regarding the stoppage and delay in the work to expand Route H-27, the El Cobre highway, in the Rancagua-Machalí section.
In a session held on Wednesday afternoon, where the MOP Seremi, María de los Ángeles Latorre, was summoned, as well as the regional director of Roads and representatives of the regional government, the aforementioned Commission had to reach agreements without the presence of those summoned, a situation that generated annoyance among the members of the CORE.
The meeting, which lasted 1 hour and 36 minutes, discussed as the only point the Report on the Situation of “Extension of Route H-27 El Cobre, Rancagua-Machalí highway”, which was headed by the Regional Councilor, Alex Ramírez Ortiz, president of the Commission and members of this collegiate body.
The president of the Infrastructure Commission, at the beginning of his speech at the meeting, regretted the absence of the Seremi of Public Works, as well as the director of Roads, who sent their excuses to the members of the commission, where the topic of a work in which more than 11 billion pesos have been invested was to be discussed, which will make “the 2 most expensive kilometers in the history of paving and road improvement,” he said.
Ramírez Ortiz said that the MOP Seremi mentioned in her excuses that she could not attend due to the deadline and the short time to be able to deliver a report on the situation.
“We are fulfilling our supervisory role and we just wanted the technical unit, which is responsible for and in charge of this project, to make known the status of the works,” said the president of the Commission.
He insisted on regretting the absence of the MOP representative in the region, because “as a collegiate body, we are aware that this is not our responsibility. We are the financial unit of this project,” stressed Alex Ramírez, adding that they are demanding that the resources go where they should.
Lenin Arroyo: “What the MOP is doing is unacceptable”
In this regard, his colleague Lenin Arroyo began his speech by describing as “unpresentable” what the MOP is doing in the O’Higgins region, and therefore requested that the President of the Republic, Gabriel Boric, begin an investigation into the MOP in the region, since they have proven to be “ineffective” in the face of this major project, on which so much money has been spent.
Similarly, Councillor Ana González supported the position of her colleague Arroyo and stated that “this is a stain on the regional governor and the councillors.”
A similar position was taken by Councillor Cristina Marchan, who considers it a lack of respect for the system, because “we are not only talking about the El Cobre highway, but also about works that are not completed by the Ministry of Public Works.”
Representing the regional government was the Administrator, Natalia Sánchez, who stated her position on the responsibilities of the organizations involved in the work and the willingness of the executive to complete the work for the benefit of the residents of Machalí and Rancagua.
Confusing the governor with the delegate
The approach of the counselor Mauricio Donoso, was supported by the majority of those present, when he stated that the Seremi Latorre, “makes a mistake, because she confuses the figure of the Governor with that of the Delegate”, since she sends a letter to the Presidential Delegation, to justify her absence “due to commitments acquired in advance” and this in turn forwards it to the Executive Secretariat of the CORE.
In the same document, to which we had access, dated August 6, the MOP Seremi states that “the summons was not previously coordinated by the Infrastructure and Public Works Commission of the Regional Council since the call is not issued with a reasonable amount of time in advance to allow my participation, I must inform you that it is not possible for me to attend.”
Additionally, Latorre also requests the presidential delegate, “as the highest regional authority and intermediary in this type of request, to reiterate to the Regional Council of O’Higgins the legal framework that regulates us in terms of the calls, since by not complying with this regulation the regional authorities have been publicly exposed for not attending these instances, and that according to what has been indicated it would not be a breach.”
In this regard, Councilor Mauricio Valderrama said that he did not think it was good that the MOP Seremi did not participate in this meeting, given the importance of the topics that were discussed where some positions that had not been held before were made clear.
“Today we are paying with the resources of the El Cobre highway, debts that this company has and that are appearing drop by drop (…) and it cannot be allowed that with resources from the regional government the debt of a particular company is being paid,” said Valderrama.
Three agreements approved unanimously
At the end of the meeting, three agreements were unanimously approved by all the councilors present: to notify the Presidential Delegate, the Minister of Public Works and the President of the Republic himself, regarding the inefficiency of the road department with the El Cobre highway project; to respond to the letter from the Seremi of Public Works, making known the supervisory role of the CORE, and the third, to request the regional executive to open an investigation into the debts owed by the company.
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