Under the slogan “not wanting to pay is also corruption,” contractor engineers who built 56 hospitals protested this morning in front of the Ministry of Housing and Buildings demanding that they be paid around 400 million pesos for the completion of said works.
Engineer Ramón Rodríguez said that the Ministry of Housing refuses to proceed with the payments and certifications, alleging a “legal knot” for exceeding 25% of the contracted amount.
Rodríguez explained that the Minister of Housing and Buildings, Carlos Bonilla, has left them no other option than to protest, since he does not even receive them.
A police cordon prevented the protesters from moving to the MIVED in front of the National Palace.
He recalled that they won through a lottery for works, held in August 2013, when 56 hospitals were awarded for repair, expansion and remodeling.
He said that the executing unit was the Engineering Department of the Ministry of Public Health (MISPAS), coordinated by Minister Dr. Fredy Hidalgo.
“In June 2016, there was a change of minister at MISPAS, with Dr. Altagracia Guzmán Marcelino being appointed as the new incumbent in the ministry.”
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He added that Dr. Guzmán Marcelino decided to transfer the execution of these projects to the Office of Engineers and Supervision of State Works, then headed by engineer Francisco Pagán.
He said that after the legal and bureaucratic procedures have been completed, adjustments are made to the execution budgets, in accordance with the standards and requirements of the World Health Organization and are assigned to the contractors as amendment one, however, and after the contracts have been signed, adjustments continue to be made to the budget.
