MOP left carrying can for Martinelli mega projects

THE GOVERNMENT of former President Ricardo Martinelli  left  the current  Ministry of Public Works (MOP) carrying the can for unpaid bills and with a deficit of more than $308 million.

The current minister of the portfolio, Ramón Arosemena, says the deficit, the minister results from works tendered by the MOP, that  were not in the budget at the beginning of the current administration in July 2014

“When we arrived, we found a lot of projects that did not even have budget; which means that we now have a deficit of $308 million for construction  projects for which we do not  have money, “he said.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
Arosemena said that from the MOP  budget for 2015, amounting to $899 million, it will have to spend $650 million in accounts payable for projects implemented by the previous government, including the Cinta  Costera 3, which was declared open by Martineel  with stage managed ceremonies, the expansion of the Santiago-David road and José Domingo Diaz road extension, reports La Prensa

The MOP is investigating  each of the projects implemented by the previous administration todetermine the quality of work, quantity and quality of materials used.

“We will investigate these project one by  one with the resources we have,” he said.

WITH INTENT

The president of the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects (SPIA), Ricardo Robles, did not rule out the previous administration has “intentionally”  left these projects without heading to the tendering procedure, but saying  that the works were in progress.

He said the MOP authorities will have to investigate whetherthey met the formality of having a bid  and verify what was done with that money.