The 6.5-kilometer road is now open, government officials said. Its inauguration took place during a period in which it is forbidden to launch works for the election period.
This Friday the construction of the Liberty Bypass was completed, a 6.5-kilometer-long road the investment amounts to 61,500,000 dollars, according to data from the Ministry of Public Works.
The President of the Republic, who took a tour of the road, said that from today Salvadorans can travel around this work that seeks to boost the economy and tourism in the country. More than 100,000 people will benefit from this road project, government officials say.
The work was completed with the construction of the third section of the road, which is 3.25 kilometers long and four lanes that connect with the Litoral road, at the height of Conchalío beach.
Last September, the MOP announced the completion of the first two phases, the first 2.89-kilometer-long built of hydraulic concrete the cost reached $ 27.3 million. It covers from the area known as La Danta to the surroundings of the Chilama River.
The second part is 380 meters long, includes a viaduct 280 meters long to 45 meters high, considered the tallest and longest bridge in the country.
“This is the last section that connects the road infrastructure project with the Carretera de la Litoral, in the sector of Conchalío beach,” said the MOP on Friday after announcing the completion of the work in its totality.
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Inauguration during election ban
This opening took place in the midst of the legal ban on enabling works in El Salvador due to the proximity to the election season.
The newspaper El Salvador itself, a government propaganda platform, initially painted it as an “inauguration”. He then reformulated and claimed the play had been enabled, but a capture of his Twitter account reveals that they handled the first term.
Article 178 of the Electoral Code states: “During the thirty days prior to the date set for the elections, neither the Government of the Republic, nor the Municipal Councils and other autonomous entities, may publish in any private media or the contracting, inauguration of works of national infrastructure or of any other nature that have realized, that realize or that project to realize in fulfillment of the provision or of the services of assistance to which is obliged the State “.
In the opinion of lawyer and election expert Ruth Eleonora López, this is “absolutely an inauguration.”
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“If it is a street that was not in use and from now on it can be used, what they are doing (saying they ‘enable’ it) is a subterfuge to disguise the issue,” added the lawyer, who qualify as “unpresentable” to the Government for violating electoral regulations.
According to the same Electoral Code, in its article 230, the violation of this measure implies dismissal in office and a fine if the person who violates the provision is a civil servant of popular election.
previous controversies
Since 2019 the government in turn has denounced irregularities in the construction of the last phase this megawork committed by previous administrations of the MOP. In September of this year they noted that when it was received construction was stalled and recorded an 18% advance when it was to be completed in July.
Minister Romeo Rodríguez to indicate to the extitulares of this portfolio, Gerson Martinez and Eliud Ayala, of to have committed a series of irregularities in the awarding of the construction of section III and sent supposed tests of it to the Public Ministry.
He said the project was for 18 months, 6 months for design and one year for construction; but the company took a year to make 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 resolved that the contract with the construction company, which at the time was Engineering and Construction Eben Ezer, expire. SA de CV, and concrete Asfálticos de Colombia SA and was not done.