Chinchero airport with a gray future. Yesterday, in the emblematic district of Cusco, the decentralized session of the Congressional Transportation and Communications Commission and, after several hours of debate, an injection of S/40 million was barely agreed in favor of the Natividad Consortium, in charge of the execution of the terminal – which will receive up to 11 million passengers a year, and which would not only open the doors of Cusco to the world, but of the entire southern macro-region.
The Minister of Transportation and Communications, Raúl Pérez-Reyes, and the Vice Minister of Transportation, Ismael Sutta, indicated that the S/40 million will be managed in the next six weeks in order to sign an addendum with Natividad; and for this, the consortium must issue a letter of bank guarantee. From this April 1st the Nativity period began to run. to comply with the required processes, and towards the middle of May it will begin to hire personnel to “restart the execution of the project.” In total they have a budget of S/512 million.
Dissatisfied parties
From the MTC they reported that the Natividad Consortium requested an additional US$193 million to be able to address the cost overruns generated by climate anomalies, container crises and international wars, which in one way or another affected their financial calculations.
However, the contract does not contemplate updating costs, in addition to the fact that Natividad has not complied with presenting an accelerated schedule. “How to pay if there is no progress?” reflected Deputy Minister Sutta.
Jae Kyoung Kim, director of the Natividad Consortium, revealed that the S/40 million would cover just 3% of what they need and, therefore, they were going to “advance according to the amount given to them.”
Kim recognized that his participation was going to be limited by the language barrier, and that is where Gerardo Pucciarellogeneral manager of the Natividad Consortium, entered into the fight, and assured that they were going to arbitration because “it was not fair” that the additional expenses were not recognized, considering that the project has 20% more surface area.
Pucciarello said that these US$193 million “are not an advance”, but rather the requirement to update the price. Once the addendum is given, they will resume work “while they seek a definitive response to the conflict.” As a culmination, Kim once again had the floor and claimed that they will continue in negotiations with the TCM because “going to arbitration would be excessive.”
Reactions
Raúl Pérez-Reyes, Minister of Transport and Communications
“There is a budget allocation of more than 512 million soles for the works in 2024. The construction of the Chinchero International Airport will continue and will not be paralyzed.”
Gerardo Pucciarello, general manager Natividad Consortium
“Tell a contractor or bricklayer to build a 150 m house for a 200 m house with the same price. Nobody is going to take it. Therefore, we are going to go to arbitration. “It wouldn’t be fair if we weren’t recognized for that.”
Source: Larepublica
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