The Institutional Control Body (OCI) of the Chira Special Project Piura (Pechp) identified an economic loss of S/ 760,246 in the rental of heavy machinery for drain clearing works in Bajo Chira, which it carried out during the declaration of emergency due to extreme rains in 2023.
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According to report 040-2024, in the intervention sheets a value of S/ 220 per machine hour of a 15 m3 dump truck was placed, when in similar sheets that were prepared by the same officials, less than S/ was recorded. 155.
The change generated a higher cost of S/ 1,093,282 in the budget of the activity, which exceeded S/ 14 million and at the same time generated an economic loss of S/ 760,246, due to the difference in the cost of the items.
The auditors did not find the technical support or quotes that justify the increase in the cost of renting the machinery, despite repeated requests for information sent to those involved in this fact.
To validate their findings, the auditors collected files that were prepared between April and May 2023.
This is the file for “Maintenance and elevation of the dam on the left bank of the Piura River”, in which the machine hour of a 15 m3 dump truck was recorded as a unit price of S/155.
They also used the “Cleaning, clearing and clearing of drain 1308 of the district of Castilla” file, in which the same cost of renting a dump truck of the same capacity was placed.
However, everything changed in the file “Declogging of main drains of Bajo Chira ND06, ND07, ND09, ND10, ND12, ND13, ND14 and ND15” of Sullana”, in which S/ 220 was recorded.
What caught the attention of the case is that the three files were prepared by the same professional, Ronald Cárdenas.
“The Commission requested information from Ronald Cárdenas Merino regarding the preparation of the technical sheets, who in his response document […] on October 14, 2024, it indicated that it recorded estimated prices based on magazines such as Costs and quotes made by the Directorate of Studies and Environment,” says OCI.
“The Directorate of Studies and Environment was requested […] and in its response document of October 11 […] attached the sheets without quotes, plans, calculations and additional documents; “Only the file format was sent, limiting itself to pointing out that it is the information that is in their files,” the report reads.
In this way, the auditors conclude that there was no basis for the preparation of the emergency forms.
“The documents that supported the preparation of the files were not evident; In that sense, these intervention documents did not have the support to prove that an analysis was carried out regarding the unit cost of the inputs…”, they add.
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