Part of the assets of the failed Pacific refinery deteriorate due to lack of maintenance

The housing complex of 140 homes -built almost a decade ago near where a heavy crude refinery would be built in the El Aromo sector- has deterioration problems in several of the houses, which in principle would be used for the residence of those who would work there. The main problem is the lack of money for maintenance.

This good has a cost of $ 13 million, and is part of the assets of the company Refinería del Pacífico in liquidation, as are the platform of the failed refinery, the aqueduct, as well as offices and other real estate, but it is categorized as an industrial facility and not as an urbanization, and on that property there is an environmental license granted by the Ministry of the Environment, as confirmed by José Herrera, liquidator of said company.

To prevent further deterioration, Herrera indicated that shareholders have been told that there are two options: it is given to the majority shareholder, which is Petroecuador, or it is delivered or sold to clean up the company’s liabilities, convert it into an urbanization; But first, a problem with the municipality of Manta must be remedied, which in 2018 initiated a coercive lawsuit for the payment of the 1.5 per 1,000 tax on the company’s assets, which prevents the intention to sell it.

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“I know that they are deteriorating and in fact we did a slight maintenance last year and so they are informed, that is why it is urgently necessary to make a decision, a decision that a little exceeds our capacity”, declared Herrera on this and other assets such as the platform and the aqueduct, which now transfers raw water to several Manabi cantons, but which does not receive any penny from the beneficiaries, and has even been sabotaged by people who have been clandestinely connected to the system.

For the moment, the company in liquidation tries to clean up debts or critical knots with creditors, and through existing lawsuits.

According to the Companies Law, the payment to the largest creditor shareholder will be made after, in order of priority, other minor debts are canceled, but Herrera maintains that they have already reached a point where they can no longer pay other creditors. because there are pending lawsuits.

But it points out that they cannot wait for the lawsuits to be resolved before paying the majority creditor shareholder, and therefore the Superintendency of Companies has been consulted.

“Because if I wait for the lawsuits to be completed to pay the creditor shareholders, the equity is going to deteriorate and this company does not have the resources to maintain it, it does not have the resources to operate the aqueduct, it does not have the resources to pay for the electricity, the municipalities (that benefit from the aqueduct) do not pay ”, declared Herrera.

Only on the subject of insuring the assets of the failed refinery, last year more than a million dollars was disbursed, including the value added tax.

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In addition, the salary of 28 people assigned to the refinery must be paid. Of that number, 17 are assigned to the aqueduct, for which more than $ 20,000 are disbursed monthly. Another $ 20,000 is paid monthly for guardianship, water and electricity and others, but the largest item that is allocated each month is related to the provision of electricity for the aqueduct, which reaches $ 100,000, according to Herrera.

“The serious thing is that the resources of this company, the few resources that were had, could have been reached to make some improvements to the heritage, or make some decisions if we had not had to operate the aqueduct, this company cannot continue to pay salaries to a group of technicians, neither paying for maintenance, nor paying for electricity, nor paying an administrative cost of a system that does not generate a penny, we cannot continue to pay environmental license costs, we cannot continue to pay policies for compliance with environmental management plans ”Declared Herrera. (I)