| Work Detail |
This week, the so-called “dialogue-minded governors” will try to obtain financing from the Casa Rosada for the execution of public works considered to be priorities. This comes after it was learned that the Nation eliminated the National Entity for Water and Sanitation Works (Enohsa) and the claims of the businessmen of the North regarding the federal debt of $12,000 million and the stopped or “neutralized” works that are exposed to inclement weather and vandalism. This, in addition to the social crisis in the sector, in which 20,000 jobs have been lost.
The situation is radically different from that of March last year, when the Nation encouraged the planning of the works that the province needed and the acceleration of those that were already underway. This movement included large works such as the new Vipos aqueduct - proposed to provide a solution for drinking water to 240,000 inhabitants of the northern area of ??Greater San Miguel, which is the area that is growing rapidly at the moment; the highway to Termas de Río Hondo and the Benjamín Paz prison. There were smaller works such as the sewage network and treatment plants in Simoca and San Andrés, and many works on roads and highways, for which the builders are complaining, who also expressed concern about the work on housing that has stopped. At the same time, productive sectors have expressed their complaints about the lack of maintenance of roads and routes considered important for various localities and for production, which have been waiting for years to be repaired or renovated, as is the case of routes 321 and 334, as well as the risky stoppage of maintenance of access to the capital through San Andrés, at the intersection of routes 9 and 306, which is worrying the community.
That is to say, the provincial administration, as well as its counterparts in the region, has been faced with a reality opposite to that of a year and a half ago, with all commitments “neutralized” and awaiting a change of attitude that does not seem likely to come, if one takes into account the strong idea of ??the federal Minister of Deregulation and Transformation of the State that there will be no more public works. The Province, in this framework, has been taking charge as much as possible of some works, such as the unfinished repair of the fissures in the El Cadillal dam, the resumption of part of the works on the Benjamín Paz prison and the repairs on route 307 near El Infiernillo, as well as the new repair of the bridge over the Santa María River in Amaicha. All this, without any clarity as to whether the funds will be returned by the Nation.
In this complex context, it would be appropriate for political leaders to clearly debate the path to follow regarding public works. How will they be financed? How will their urgency be determined? What is the strategy to achieve them? The debate is broad and should be a central issue on the political agenda. |
