What is your balance for the year?
I think the balance of the year was positive for the country in the end. We left a bad government to a normal government, where at least the president has some acceptance. Definitely, José Jerí It has been a pleasant surprise for many Peruvians. Now, we have a difficult year ahead of us, a difficult election. We Peruvians have to make good decisions and not make mistakes again.
You are in the ruling party…
It’s a strange situation, because we don’t fight about this. We are not fighting to be the governing party, but we must also understand that it is not a normal government. It is a transitional government, a government of a few months, where what you can do is very limited, such as medium or long-term reforms. I believe that the only thing we can demand of the president is, first, that he organizes fair, free and transparent elections. And, secondly, that as far as possible the criminal situation does not worsen. That it be maintained or improved a little in terms of security for the neighbors. But it’s not like a problem this serious is going to be solved in a few months.
He has said that being mayor of Lima would be the biggest challenge of his life.
I am going to run for mayor of Lima if, of course, my party nominates me. It would be the biggest challenge because Lima is a very complicated city. We are going to inherit a municipality that is particularly in debt. I had never been so in debt. And, therefore, it will require us to do things with few resources, but with a lot of creativity and a lot of technicality, which I think is what management lacks a little.
municipal.
How do you lack technicality? Is there a lot of populism in the Municipality of Lima?
What happens is that, when you want to solve the traffic problem, it is said that you have to put in two thousand, three thousand or four thousand million. When currently the technique exists to improve the traffic situation with much less investment. For example, if Lima had a smart traffic light system with artificial intelligence, with sensors on the roads and cameras that count the number of cars in the queue, the situation would be different. Look, Santiago de Chile has seven million inhabitants and has more or less 4,000 smart traffic lights.
How far behind are we?
Look, a smart traffic light is a traffic light that has artificial intelligence, that knows how to think. He knows that, when there is no car passing, he gives the green light to the other lane. When he sees that the lane has many cars waiting, he tries to give them priority. And, furthermore, it is connected to the traffic light that is on the next block, so as not to relieve your block and clog up the other. And everyone works synchronously. Chile has 4,000 of these traffic lights. In Peru, it is very likely that the census will show that there are 12 or 14 million of us. And we only have 2,000 old traffic lights, with timers. We do not have a smart traffic light system. I think they have installed around 600, nothing more. So, when we have not resorted to this technology that allows us to speed up traffic in a thoughtful and intelligent way and we are faced with large viaducts that in urban areas worsen the environment… Because it is very different if you live in an apartment that faces an avenue that has a green central berm and another, very different one, is when cars pass in front of your window all day making noise and honking.
So, do you think that viaducts are not going to solve the problem?
I think not, because the large viaducts in the world, in urban areas, generate what is called induced demand. That is, the court at the beginning is free, then everyone starts using the court. People who used other routes now get on that track. And in a matter of six months, that track gets stuck. Example: what happened at the Monitor oval, where a viaduct was also built. And today there is as much traffic as there was before without the viaduct. The difference is that now we have S/200 million less than what we had before. Lima should have had a traffic control center for a long time, just as we have the central monitoring districts of the city with cameras.
Why wasn’t that plant built?
Lima would have to have a control center for all smart traffic lights. And, of course, there should be 4,000 or 5,000 intelligent traffic lights and not 2,000 that only have timers and no built-in intelligence. This plant, which was going to be financed by the World Bank, was never executed, it was never carried out. And in exchange for that, we resort to these large viaducts on Javier Prado that generate, rightly, protests from neighbors. There are other viaducts, however, that are interesting and are on the outskirts of the city. For example, in Ramiro Prialé. There is no problem with the urban environment there. And the viaduct, as designed, makes a lot of sense. It is not a question of saying no to all viaducts. You have to look case by case and look for the most economical formulas, using the latest technology available.
He also criticizes the Yellow Line Expressway.
In the case of the Yellow Line there is a problem that is the toll. When you go to the airport on a Friday afternoon, you have to wait in line for about 3 or 4 km to pay the toll. So, why the hell do we spend so much money making a tunnel under the river? Yes, we are still standing in this line, not because of the traffic, but to pay the toll. So, it is clear that what needs to be done is to find out how cars could pay the toll in an easier way. That technology exists.
And the cleaning…
Something that draws powerful attention, although it is not an exclusive responsibility of the metropolitan municipality, but of many district municipalities, is the garbage in the streets. That didn’t exist before. I don’t know what is happening with many districts that do not collect trash. That is its primary function. The first thing to pick up is the trash. If not, we are entering a health crisis of proportions. And when you go to the Center of Lima you find garbage on the sides. That didn’t exist before. If we only cleaned Lima, we would have already done 30% of the job. Picking up the trash, cleaning the streets and painting the walls a little is 30% of the work to make Lima much more presentable.
The Southern Expressway is an incomplete good idea.
The Southern Expressway is a very good idea. Unfortunately, it is a work that is only half done. It cannot be called Vía Expresa because it has traffic lights every half kilometer. Exchanges and bridges must be made. It’s terrible, because it’s quite wide. When the lanes for the Metropolitano are finished, it will have 14 lanes. A pedestrian is going to have to jump across 14 lanes, avoiding 14 cars coming from different directions. Children have to cross 14 lanes every day to go to school. The ladies who want to pray in the parish, the same. What is the Municipality of Lima waiting for to build pedestrian bridges?
Meanwhile, they could install prefabricated bridges.
They already ran over a traffic inspector. And a few days ago a child was run over. What are we waiting for? May there be more deaths? Invest a little in pedestrian bridges instead of thinking about investing billions in viaducts on Javier Prado. At least rent iron structures and put up a bridge so that people can cross, but don’t belittle human life in this way.
The beach season begins without toll. Isn’t there a covert campaign there?
You have to tell the truth. It is impossible for these roads to be maintained without charging some toll. Lima can’t do it. In fact, the district municipalities are cleaning part of the highway. Otherwise, we are filled with garbage. Because the track doesn’t clean itself. The district municipalities are assuming part of the cost of not charging tolls. I hope there is no electoral interest behind it. What you have to do is speak to people clearly.
Does your management balance Rafael Lopez Aliaga?
It is a management that has its undoubted achievements. He has left some projects planned. Not all are goals, some are criticizable. But there is a package of projects, many of which it has begun to implement. But it remains to be concluded. He did not stay long enough to finish them, as is the case with the Via
Express South.
Are you afraid the same thing will happen to you if you resign?
I focus on topics that I can complete. Instead of focusing on everything and leaving everything half done, I prefer to carry out programs that I can design and launch. That’s what we did in programs like Mivivienda and Techo Propio, which were created more than 20 years ago and continue to operate as is.
“THEY ARE OLD, BUT THEY ROLL”
What do you think Joseph Williams? you left Country Advances when he entered Phillip Butters.
It was the natural candidate for Country Advances. When the candidacy of Phillip Butterseverything was aimed at the general Williams be the presidential candidate. He has been an exemplary soldier, he risked his life in recovering the embassy and was an effective president of Congress. We all believed he would be the natural candidate. Then it appeared Phillip Butters. I have ideological disagreements with him. I thought that Avanza País was a liberal right-wing party. Obviously, Phillip doesn’t have that position and he has every right not to. But I also have every right not to be in a party whose presidential candidate differs on fundamental ideological issues. Therefore, I made the decision to retire.
Has a certain voter already had enough of the aggressive style and is looking for a candidate who will reconcile the country?
I think there is a saturation. I would like to have a leader who inspires and not insults. If there were a leader who brings us all together, without exception, around an objective, respecting individual positions and personal issues… If he is a valuable Peruvian with whom we can go in a joint effort to move our country forward, that is the president for whom I would vote. Unfortunately, there is no such person in the repertoire. There are groups that sometimes, by blurring personal issues, try to disqualify people. And that seems to me to be the most totalitarian thing there can be. Who is going to take on God’s role of saying who is morally solvent to work for the country? Here we are all solvent to work for Peru. Personal issues don’t matter. What matters is the ability of the person to hold the positions for which they apply and the principles that this person defends so that our country can move forward. Until now, I don’t see that leader who makes that call.
He said that López Aliaga’s trains are old, but they serve. It looks like they are going to roll now.
It seems so. It seems very good to me, actually. I think that one of Rafael López Aliaga’s achievements is having obtained these cheap trains that, indeed, are old, but they still run. Every effort must be made with the national government to make them work. Put the second line of rails, put meshes to prevent people from crossing the rails and avoid accidents. And I hope one day we will have a Chosica-Callao train line.
Carlos Bruce: “Fools are going to air issues that are in the personal sphere”
They criticized Norma Yarrow from Renovación Popular for alleged issues of sexual orientation. Very low.
It seems totally out of place to me that a candidate is attacked with supposedly sexual orientation issues because, then, these people believe that, depending on which side of the bed you lie on, you are more or less efficient, more or less a better person, a better or worse congressman. That only shows mental stupidity, because only a moron can think that. These attacks on Norma Yarrow, rather, blur those who have done it more than Norma herself.
They have also wanted to do it with Carlos Álvarez. The campaign risks going down even further.
There are going to be fools. And fools are going to want to air issues that are strictly personal, anyway. Because what is at stake here are not personal issues. What is at stake is the ability of the person to be able to carry out their position with complete efficiency and effectiveness, and whether or not that person is prepared to carry out the position they intend to apply for.
