On the road still under construction there were some traffic accidents that have claimed the lives of several people.
PORTOVIEJO
A second action for precautionary measure brought the company Consermin against the decision of the national government, which through the Ministry of Transport and Public Works (MTOP) declared in May 2020 the unilateral termination of the contract for the construction of the Manta- Colisa, thus delaying the intention of the State to rehire this work.
Fanny Farías, MTOP zone 4 undersecretary, pointed out that the last time the company worked on the road was on August 8, 2019, that is, the work has been paralyzed for 28 months. The work had an initial cost of 83.6 million dollars, of which the State gave as an advance about 41.8 million dollars to the Consermin company.
The construction company of this work – which has an advance of 58.30% -, has as one of its directors Ramiro Galarza, one of the people who were sentenced to eight years in prison in the Bribery and Others case, in which The former president of the Republic Rafael Correa was also sentenced.
Precisely the signing of the work contract took place on March 30, 2017, days before Correa left office. The intention was for this work to be completed on September 26, 2019.
Sections of the Manta-Colisa highway intervene after a person died in a traffic accident
When this protection measure is presented by Consermin, it prevents the MTOP from collecting the corresponding guarantees and the policy of faithful compliance of the work, two policies that added together mean the payment of 25.5 million dollars in favor of the Executive.
Farías pointed out that there were three reasons why the previous government determined the unilateral termination of the contract and these were the non-payment of insurance in favor of the employees of the Consermin construction company, subcontractor claims for late payments and not having the required technical equipment For the work.
The precautionary measure by Consermin was imposed in the Multicompetent Unit of the Montecristi canton. Faced with this, Farías asked the justice to speed up the process, because the intention of the MTOP is to resume the work to complete the work.
He pointed out that if the courts rule in favor of ratifying the unilateral termination of the contract, the MTOP will immediately carry out a new contract.
According to Farías, the work requires some 30 million dollars for its completion, of which 25 million dollars already has the State to start the continuation process, while the remaining 5 million dollars will be allocated by the MTOP.
In the last three years along this road there have been several traffic accidents that have even caused the death of people. Farías indicated that in the last event that occurred on December 25, in which Carlos Majojo Gutiérrez died, the Ecuador Traffic Commission was asked to provide information on the causes of the accident.
Farías also indicated that he hopes that the mayors of Manta, Montecristi and Jaramijó, where the road is established, resolve that the issue of the land occupied by the highway and that have not yet been released due to legal disputes with their owners is resolved in the least possible time.
“So that this work is rehired and not have that critical knot and not have problems when resuming those works,” said the official. (I)
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