| Work Detail |
There is an item of $392 million of national resources that will now be managed by Provincial Roads.
CONDITION. The road to Mendoza has obvious signs of deterioration and if the arrangements to turn it into a highway are going to be delayed, it needs to be maintained. – ROAD WORKS Ruta 40 Sur Provincial Highway MAINTENANCE WORKS1 of 1 | CONDITION. The road to Mendoza has obvious signs of deterioration and if the arrangements to turn it into a highway are going to be delayed, it needs to be maintained. ()
As the change to the highway of Route 40 South, which links San Juan with Mendoza, has been delayed, in Vialidad Provincial they had access to a fund of $392 million that will be used for the maintenance of that road, which totals 74 kilometers. The resources will also be allocated to the repair of Route 153, about 21 kilometers long, which go from the Villa de Media Agua, in Sarmiento, to the town of Los Berros, a concentration point of a great lime activity.
As explained by the head of Roads, Juan Magariños, the provincial body signed a TSO (Transfer of Operational Functions) agreement with National Roads, by which the national department transfers the resources to the provincial so that it takes charge of preserving both roads.
"We are seeing the scope and even what kind of work these resources will serve," explained Magariños.
With regard to Route 40 South, in the first days of this month Provincial Roads decided to postpone for 60 days, until June 8, the call for bids to determine the companies that will compete to take over the tasks in one of the three sections, the one between the towns of Tres Esquinas and the access to Cochagual, in Sarmiento. The postponement, according to official sources, was defined to ensure that there are offers and, therefore, competition between the companies.
This is a new delay for a key work that has an official budget of $7.2 billion and financing from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The work on Route 40 South has a long history of delays. For example, the company that was in charge of the tasks, Green SA, started the work in July 2018 and was supposed to finish it by May 2020. But at the beginning of that year it stopped the execution, citing economic problems, to the point that it was declared in bankruptcy and abandoned the work. When he left, he did not even continue with the maintenance of the area, which will now be taken over by Provincial Roads.
Now there is also the possibility that the IDB will finance section III (see infographic). And the Province is working to obtain funds for section I, between the border with Mendoza and Tres Esquinas, in Sarmiento.
Magariños said that the resources will be used to clean shoulders, weeding, potholes and both horizontal and vertical signage.
In the case of the section between the main town of Sarmiento and Los Berros, which has a high circulation of trucks that come from the lime kilns, the official said that they have to determine if the resources are only enough for patching and minor works or if they are also to serve to make a comprehensive resurfacing of that road. It is an important road because, the official said that in addition to the lime kilns, there are olive production projects and it is a way of accessing Campogrande del Acequión, where, for example, the Canme San Juan estate is located, destined for the medicinal cultivation of olive trees. cannabis. |
