$1.5 billion unfinished road projects

FIVE ROAD projects   costing $1.5 billion tendered during the previous administration are still unfinished.

According to reports of the Ministry of Public Works, two of them are turnkey projects that the government must finish paying by 2018. They are the extension of Via Domingo Díaz and the rehabilitation of the Pan-American highway between Veraguas and Chiriquí.

The other three pending projects are the rehabilitation and widening of the Amador Causeway, the rehabilitation of the superstructure and substructure of the Bridge of the Americas and the construction of the road to connect Panama Pacifico with the Centenario Bridge. That project has been suspended because the plan to expand the highway between the Bridge of the Americas and Arraiján.

Former Ministry of Public Works official Adriano Ferrer said that some delays are unavoidable, but there must be a legitimate reason.

He stressed that one of the problems facing the ministry is the lack of technical personnel and engineers for inspections. During recent budget negotiations, funds for the hiring of more inspectors were cut from the ministry’s spending plan.

The outstanding projects have a combined value of $1.5 billion. Minister of Public Works Ramón Arosemena said the contractors have been paid based on the completion rate of the project.