The Vice Minister of Infrastructure of the MTOP, Carolina Ormaza, explained how the new road solution will be in the affected area
The Ministry of Transport and Public Works (MTOP) ruled out the construction of a new variant of the Quito-Lago Agrio highway, in the section of El Reventador, that has been affected by the regressive erosion of the Coca River and its tributaries (Quijos and Piedra Fina). Now it is being analyzed to build a new 19-kilometer road with five bridges on the route. The decision was made after verifying that a third variant became unenforceable. So he explained Carolina Ormaza, Vice Minister of Transportation Infrastructure and Public Works.
The road axis is another of the problems that the authorities are facing in the sector where there are also threats to the pipelines, the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant and the neighboring towns such as San Luis, San Pedro and San Rafael, which are about to be evacuated.
Ormaza recalled that on December 3 of this year the cracking in the road table occurred in Piedra Fina II and the decision was made to suspend circulation. By December 10, the destruction of the table at kilometer 46.5 was total, in Piedra Fina.
The official explained that the possibility of a third variant had been analyzed until last week (two had been built to date) but due to the advance of erosion, this is no longer favorable conditions. So now work is being done on the pre-feasibility of the 19-kilometer road with five bridges that would eventually top the Reventador. The first four bridges are small (50 meters each). The fifth is a bridge located at the mouth of the Reventador and will be 150 meters, but that it will precisely circumvent the sector where more volcanic material is usually generated, so that the road is not interrupted.
Admitted that It is a complex alternative, but ensures that the objective is to return that necessary step and also communicate to the communities of the sector. The latter because it says that there is a more conservative alternative that would be made towards the right bank, but that would imply leaving three or four populations in the area incommunicado. This week the analysis of the technical and social options will be completed and the final decision will be made, he said.
It is not yet known what the value of the new vial solution will be, but two alternatives are being considered. In the first, it is thought that studies could be carried out that would last eight months to be carried out and then the construction of the work would come. But one could also think of carrying out the two processes at the same time: study and opening of the road, so that the solution arrives as soon as possible.
He also indicated that the proposal of the Minister of Transport, Marcelo Cabrera, has been to work in an articulated manner so that the efforts are jointly for a definitive solution. For example in the layout of the road and the layout of the pipelines. He explained that the seventh variant in which Petroecuador is currently working will not be the final one.
The vice minister also recalled that the first road damage was in February 2020, when the San Rafael waterfall collapsed and the first road cracks occurred.
For May of that same year, the Ministry of Transportation already proposed the first 650-meter variant and that it had a cost of $ 161,933.52 without VAT. The inspection was carried out by the MTOP itself and the execution took place between July 1 and 25, based on the emergency declaration in May.
Meanwhile, in August and September a new variant is made to maintain connectivity between Quito and Lago Agrio. This time, the variant that was 800 meters, and it was considered a more definitive solution, it cost $ 772,435.42. The examination cost $ 44,569.52. The work began in October 2020, but was completed by mutual agreement on February 15, 2021 with 68% of the work completed.
While the definitive work that is being analyzed lasts, the alternative route to use is: Y de Baeza-Y de Narupa-Loreto and Coca. For this sector, the ministry has programmed a patching intervention, precisely in the section that goes from Narupa to Loreto and it is also planned to intervene the Cosanga bridge, so that the journey along this road takes place in better conditions. (I)
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