The 6.5-kilometer-long highway is turned on today, according to the government. The inauguration took place during a period when it is prohibited to start work during the election period.
Last Friday, according to data from the Ministry of Public Works, the construction of the La Libertad bypass, a 6.5-kilometer-long highway with an investment of 61.5 million dollars.
The president of the republic, who took a road trip, said that from today Salvadorans can circulate through this work that aims to boost the economy and passenger cars in the country. More than 100,000 people will benefit from this road project, government agencies.
The work was completed with the construction of the third section of the highway, which is 3.25 kilometers long and has four lanes connecting with the Litoral highway, at Conchalío beach.
Last September, the MOP announced the completion of the first two stages, the first 2.89-kilometer hydraulic concrete construction with a cost reaching $ 27.3 million. It stretches from the area known as La Danta to the area of the Chilama River.
The second section is 380 meters long and includes a 280 meter long and 45 meter high viaduct, considered the tallest and longest bridge in the country.
“This is the last part connecting the road infrastructure project to Carretera del Litoral, in the beach sector of Conchalío,” the MOP said this Friday after announcing the completion of the work in its entirety.
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Inauguration during electoral closure
This opening took place in the midst of the legal prohibition to allow work in El Salvador due to its proximity to the electoral season.
The same newspaper El Salvador, the government’s propaganda platform, initially painted it as an “inauguration”. He later rephrased, claiming the work was made possible, but a screenshot from his Twitter account shows they handled the first term.
Article 178 of the electoral law states: “During the thirty days preceding the date of the elections, neither the government of the republic, nor the municipal councils and other autonomous entities may publish the contracts in private or state media., Inauguration of national infrastructure works or of any other nature which they have performed, which they carry out or which they intend to perform in accordance with the provision or assistance to which the State is obliged ”.
According to lawyer and electoral expert Ruth Eleonora López, this is “definitely an inauguration”.
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“If it’s a street that was not in use and can be used from now on, what they are doing (saying they ‘turn it on’) is a subterfuge to cover up the problem, ” added the lawyer, who described it as “not presentable” to the government for violating electoral rules.
Under the same electoral law, in Article 230, the violation of this measure implies dismissal from office and a fine if the person violating the provision is a public elected official.
Previous controversies
In turn, since 2019, the government has denounced irregularities in the construction of the final phase of this mega-project committed by previous MOP administrations. In September of that year, they pointed out that when the construction was received it was paralyzed and an 18% advance was recorded when it was due to be completed in July.
Minister Romeo Rodríguez He pointed out to the former heads of that portfolio, Gerson Martínez and Eliud Ayala, that he had committed a series of irregularities in the assignment of the section III construction and sent alleged evidence to the prosecution.
He said the project took 18 months, 6 months for design and a year for construction; But it took the company a year to create the design, and the design was never approved.
According to Minister Rodríguez, even the Court of Auditors questioned the construction of Section III and in its observations concluded that the contract with the construction company, which at the time was Ingeniería y Construcción Eben Ezer SA de CV, and Concretos Asfálticos de Colombia SA and it was not done.