Guadalajara, Jal. The Secretariat of Infrastructure and Public Works (SIOP) of Jalisco will exercise a budget of 7,650 million pesos (mdp) in 2025, of which 2,476 million will go to the reconstruction and maintenance plan for state highways, whose capacity increased 30% due to that the federal highway network is “devastated and impassable,” said the head of that agency, David Zamora Bueno.
When presenting the Jalisco government’s infrastructure plan for this year to the members of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC), Zamora Bueno stated that, despite the fact that the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) of the federal government say otherwise, “I have not seen any progress in their bachetón.”
“Due to the poor state of the federal highway network, traffic increased on all our state highways and the current state must be reinforced… Highway 80 is completely devastated, Highway 70 is not to be said, Highway 200 has sections that are already impassable. “You cannot drive in some sections at more than 20 kilometers per hour,” the state official stressed.
Tenders accelerate
The head of the SIOP indicated that due to the situation, the agency is anticipating the publication of tenders for road works.
“From the federal government, I feel that they are aware of the situation of the road infrastructure, I am concerned about how slow they are in providing attention; therefore, for us it will be a priority, seeing that there is no reaction, to immediately issue all the tenders of roads because the citizens of Jalisco have to circulate somewhere,” he said.
For his part, the president of CMIC Jalisco, Juan Manuel Chávez, expressed that the deficiencies in federal highways have forced freight transportation to use state roads due to the costs and loss of competitiveness that this entails.
“The transfer of goods and services or products has increased; the cost due to logistical inefficiency has also skyrocketed and what transporters are looking for is to become more efficient, cut their times and, above all, something that is not mentioned much, also the deterioration that their units suffer when traveling on the roads, the insecurity that is caused, in short, the damage is a lot,” emphasized Chávez Ochoa.
Multi-year investment scheme
Government and private initiative agreed that the multi-year investment scheme implemented in the last administration has allowed the development of the infrastructure required by the state and the model has even been replicated by other entities.
“With this scheme the company is financed, it can be with a loan or with its own resources; it carries out the work in one year and the government pays them along with the monthly maintenance for the remainder of the administration. This means that I have the guaranteed maintenance of that road because it is paid based on indices that there are already technical efficiency of the road,” explained the head of the SIOP.
“I insist a lot, it has been a reason for other states to replicate the model because of the benefit that it brings to all users to bring the budget to present value; it does not cost the same to invest in infrastructure now as it does in two or three years and the palpable benefit that the users and, above all, the economy will have,” commented, for his part, the president of CMIC Jalisco.
Budget grows
Because the last state administration, the SIOP exercised the budget of other areas such as the Trust to Improve the Educational Infrastructure of Jalisco, traffic lights and Red Jalisco, among others, the annual budget of the agency is lower this 2025 given that the government that headed by Pablo Lemus decided to send those resources to their respective departments, Zamora Bueno explained.
However, overall, the general budget for infrastructure this year in Jalisco will grow 4.5% compared to the previous year, commented the president of CMIC, Juan Manuel Chávez.
“At a global level, investment in infrastructure, adding comprehensive water management and some other projects, increased 4.5%, practically reaching 20,000 million pesos.”
