The Comptroller General of the Republic, in a recent report, confirmed that there are approximately 143 unfinished works in Cundinamarcto, for a total of $326,603 million, at risk of getting lost. The information, revealed by Congresswoman Alexandra Vásquez, raises concern, since there are projects that have been unfinished since 2011, when their execution period was not more than two years.
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“Among the works that attract the most attention are the construction of the aqueduct in commune 4 of Soacha, which, despite having the work completed, is not in operation and had a budget of approximately 45,647 million pesos; and the construction of the headquarters of the Zipaquirá judicial offices, where the work was completed, but is not in operation. This last contract had seven suspensions and was signed for an amount of $17,804 million pesos,” the parliamentarian assured.
In the same sense, he noted that the works that present the most delays are aqueduct and sewage projects, explaining that, Of the total of 143 works registered by the Comptroller’s Office, 24 projects have to do with sewage and aqueduct. Likewise, among the reasons why there are so many unfinished works of this type, is that there are no networks to connect the built aqueducts, non-compliance by contractors or problems in the designs of the works.
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“There are also 32 housing projects that have unfinished works. Among all these housing projects, 62,824,040 million pesos have been budgeted and the contracting party, in most of the contracts, is the Agrarian Bank of Colombia. Among the reasons why they were not executed, it is evident that there is no connection to public services or non-compliance by the contractor,” Vasquez added.
Another category that worries the control body the congresswoman for multiple unfinished works are the hospitals and health centers, because 13 contracts have been signed for projects of these characteristics that are currently unfinished. For these works, in total, the budget has been 147,077 million pesos.
Finally, the representative to the Chamber Alexandra Vásquez specified that, despite the fact that 143 unfinished works are counted by the Comptroller’s Office, Only 13 fiscal liability actions for property damage have been carried out.
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“For this reason, I will initiate a process of oversight and works in the company of citizens to forward requests for tax investigations to the Comptroller General of the Republic so that the responsible contractors and/or officials can be sanctioned as soon as possible,” he concluded.
PAULA GALEANO BALAGUERA
Portfolio Journalist