By a court order, the Government of Huila will have a period of six months to finish the paving of the Oporapa-Cruce de Saladoblanco road, currently paralyzed. The executed investment reaches 16,561 million pesos and progress is 69.36%.
RICARDO AREIZA
Despite the large investment of public resources carried out in the project, the paving of the Oporapa-Cruce road to Saladoblanco remained unfinished. But, in addition, the delivered works present serious technical deficiencies, serious problems of instability and to complete, register an accelerated premature deterioration due to the poor quality of the materials.
The project was designed to improve roads in central and southern Huila. It contemplated the paving of the Garzón-Puerto Alegría road and the construction of flexible pavement of the Oporapa-Saladoblanco crossing road.
The initial value of the two works was estimated at 28,619 million pesos. However, as always happens, it had two additions for 10,729 million pesos. The agreed final investment was 39,348 million pesos.
The same occurs with the Garzón-Puerto Alegría stretch and with the projects for the completion of the Southern Tourist Ring.
White elephant
Despite the resources advanced to the contractor and the multiple announcements of reactivation, the work is suspended and in advanced deterioration due to physical abandonment and poor quality of the materials used. The paving of the road between Oporapa and the crossing to Saladoblanco was contracted for 21,825 million pesos and today it is another white elephant, which is resurrected at election time.
According to the Secretariat of Roads, the physical execution of the paving of the Oporapa-Cruce de Saladoblanco road until June 30, 2021 was 69.36% and the financial progress was 75.83%.
This means that of the 21,826 million pesos contracted for this project, to date, 16,561 million pesos have been paid, leaving the sum of 5,264 million pesos pending payment. The paving progressed a little more than half. Since then it has been paralyzed.
The technical file for monitoring the resources of the General Participation System confirmed the percentages of execution.
The National Planning Department, in charge of monitoring, was forceful in the disaster of the currently paralyzed project.
“With a physical execution of 72.88%, which corresponds to an execution of resources of 15,907 million pesos, the object, scope, and goals of the project have not yet been achieved,” the agency specified. In addition, he highlighted the serious technical deficiencies found in the executed sections.
“By virtue of the above, the project is not developing in terms of efficiency,” he concluded.
Judicial actions
Protected by the principle of administrative morality, as a collective right and in defense of public heritage, the representative of Oporapa, Oscar Humberto Bermeo, with the support of the Ombudsman’s Office, presented a class action demanding the completion of the road, awarded six years ago. years.
In addition, the agent of the Public Ministry urgently demanded administrative actions “to avoid contingent damage, to stop the danger, threat, violation or offense against the collective rights and interests that are being threatened.”
He claimed had an echo. The Seventh Administrative Judge of Neiva, Lina Marcela Cleves Roa, upheld the collective right to defend public assets and ordered the Government of Huila, as the contracting entity, to adopt the necessary administrative and budgetary measures for the completion of the work, paralyzed today.
controversial contract
The controversial public works contract No.773-2017 was awarded to the Vías para el Huila consortium, legally represented by the engineer from Caqueta Javier Muñoz Mora and by the coastal contractor Darío Cohen Barros Zinmerman.
The contract was signed on June 21, 2017. It also signed audit contract No. 947 with the Consorcio Interventorías de Colombia, represented by Juan Manuel Gutiérrez.
The execution term established in the contract was 12 months from the signing of the initiation act (September 20, 2017). It never took off on that date.
According to the contract, the work was to be delivered completed on September 19, 2018. The deadline was missed. Not only did it double the initial term, but it also raised costs, delayed execution, generated uncertainty, and to complete, the works delivered present serious deficiencies in terms of quality.
The work was paralyzed due to adjustments due to higher and lower amounts of construction and unforeseen items during the execution of the contract. This originated the ‘classic’ additions that added another 10,729 million pesos. They also did not allow the termination.
The Vías para el Huila consortium did not have the adequate equipment or machinery to ensure the execution of the project, nor the materials and asphalt plant, nor the technical personnel that it announced in the proposal to win the contract.
Breach
Beatriz Eugenia Luna Salguero, appointed as supervisor of the audit contract (January 2020) reiterated the non-compliance of the contractors.
“It was not possible for the construction contractor to comply with the execution of the contract. Due to the pandemic, the contract was suspended, and after an extension they did not work anymore; it was only possible to define the final act of amounts of the contract, ”he confirmed.
“The contract is suspended after a second sanction. The percentage of progress was minimal: Of the 5.8 kilometers contracted, only 1.4 kilometers were paved. The entire expansion and containment was done, lacking paving and some drainage works ”, he specified.
The contract was suspended due to technical difficulties, due to non-compliance by the contractor, confirmed the engineer Julio Cesar Fierro Cediel, secretary of Vías del Huila until July 2022.
“It was not possible for the contractor to resume the execution of the contract and to repair the parts of the pavement that showed damage,” he noted.
sanctions
On July 12, 2021, the Ministry of Roads and Infrastructure confirmed that the state of the work is completely abandoned, the term of which has been extended up to 31 months, with a physical progress of 69.36% and a financial progress of 75.83%.
Due to these breaches, the Government of Huila initiated a sanction process against the consortium, responsible for the civil works.
The process ended with a sanction of 2,862 million pesos for breach of its obligations.
However, the process was archived on June 22, 2019. The contractor provided evidence to show that it had overcome the faults that were blamed on it.
On March 10, 2020, a new sanction process began against the Vías para el Huila consortium for 3,934 million pesos.
In 2021, another sanctioning process began that ended up declaring the occurrence of the incident due to non-compliance (Resolution No. 093 of July 21, 2021). The incident was valued at the sum of 3,278 million pesos, later modified to 1,655 million pesos.
On December 12, 2022, the serious breach of legal and contractual obligations was declared, with respect to the work contract. Consequently, the penalty clause for 6,215 million pesos became effective and the unilateral liquidation of the contract was ordered.
patrimonial detriment
“Despite the fact that it could be indicated that the non-execution of the work is attributable to the contractor -according to the sanctioning processes carried out, the compelling reason to protect the defense of public patrimony is related to the loss or deterioration of the works already advanced and paid to the contractor, which, if measures are not taken, would generate the loss of public resources”, said Judge Lina Marcela Cleves.
“In such a way that, it is necessary to avoid the patrimonial detriment identified from this constitutional mechanism; to demand that the responsible entity, that is, the Department of Huila, adopt measures to resolve this situation,” the togada specified.
Failure
Consequently, the Seventh Administrative Court of Neiva ordered the Government of Huila to proceed to technically evaluate the state of the work, quantify the damage it presents, structure and approve a project that allows the completion of the one that gave rise to the contracts, define the financing sources, proceed with the respective contracting, execute the works and put them into operation as required by the community.
In order to comply with this decision, the judicial official ordered the sectional government peremptory deadlines in which due dates it must submit the corresponding follow-up reports.
peremptory deadlines
The Government of Huila will have two months from the execution of this decision to technically evaluate the state of the work, quantify the damage it presents, structure and approve a project that allows the completion of the one that gave rise to the contracts.
In a period of two months you will have to define the sources of financing and three months for the respective contracting to go forward.
Finally, the judge granted the departmental government a period of six months to execute the works and put them into operation as required by the community.
In order to monitor and ensure compliance with this sentence, a verification committee was formed, made up of Judge Lina Marcela Cleves, the Ombudsman of Oporapa, Óscar Bermeo Peña, and delegates from the Attorney General’s Office, the Ombudsman’s Office, and a representative of the Government of Huila.
tax trial
Due to these anomalies in the paving of the Oporapa-cruce de Saladoblanco and Garzón-Puerto Alegría roads, the Comptroller General of the Republic formally opened on December 14, 2022 an ordinary Fiscal Responsibility process (PRF-801112-2019-34840).
“It is observed that the works are in an unfinished state, without fulfilling the function, service and/or purpose for which it was intended according to the need that gave rise to the contracting of this project. Hence the presumed responsibility not only of the executor of the work but also of the inspectorate and of course the public servants involved”, stated the intersectoral delegated comptroller, Rafael German Ariza Martínez.
The Comptroller’s Office linked officials of the Huila Governor’s Office as alleged perpetrators, among them the secretaries of Roads and spending computers. Also to the contractors, the consortium controller, the supervisor and the insurance companies so that they respond as civilly responsible third parties.
