With the deadline for Congress to approve the 2020 public budget expiring, the Guatemalan government must work with the 2019 budget, so some investments in public infrastructure could come to a halt in the first months of the year.
Last November 30, the deadline for the Congress of the Republic to approve the draft budget of income and expenditures of the nation for 2020, which amounted to Q91.9 billion ($11.9 billion) and was not endorsed by most deputies.
Because 46 right-of-way invasion conflicts were reported, the four-lane widening of the road from Sanarate to the Ranch will be completed by 2020.
The extension of a 28-kilometre stretch of the Atlantic Route, which connects the country's capital with Puerto Santo Tomás de Castilla, faces multiple difficulties, since 125 cases of invasion of the right-of-way have been registered, of which 46 became conflicts and 10 were described as "critical."
Congress has approved a land expropriation law to conclude construction of 15 kilometers of road on the main route to Chimaltenango.
The project in question, which is being run by the Ministry of Communications (CIV), consists of the construction of a new road section that will connect from kilometer 48 to 61 of the road that leads to the west of the country, in order to free up traffic in the municipalities of El Tejar and Chimaltenango.
Authorities stated that this week they plan to publish specifications for the construction of 750 houses, which will be delivered to those affected by the eruptions of the Fuego Volcano.
Representatives from the Ministry of Communications, announced that the tender will include the design and construction of low-cost housing, and that the process will be published in the next few days on the Guatecompras portal.
In Guatemala a bill has been presented to create an autonomous entity, made up of government and private investors, which would be responsible for planning and contracting out infrastructure works.
The legislative project that emerged at the National Entrepreneurs Meeting (Enade) 2017, includes the creation of a Superintendency of Road Infrastructure (Sivial), which would be an autonomous entity with the function of planning, tendering and contracting out infrastructure works.
Of the 40 road construction and renovation projects that the Ministry of Communications plans to develop this year, 22 consist of paving 408 kilometers of roads.
The proposal was presented by the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (CIV by its initials in Spanish) to the Government Cabinet on Monday.
Although they have not finished liquidating the contracts with the Brazilian company Odebrecht, Guatemalan authorities say that the bids to conclude the works are going ahead.
The contracts that the Ministry of Communications intends to terminate early are those corresponding to the extension of 97 kilometers of the CA-2 West highway. To conclude these works, the institution is launching new tenders, for which there is time to participate up until February 23.
After canceling the tender held in June, the Morales administration has announced that it will once again put out to tender renovation and maintenance of the vehicular bridge in Guatemala.
The Minister of Communications announced that for this project, they will have a budget of $5.5 million, which could be increased if necessary.Theprevioustenderwas canceled last month, because the only company that participated did not meet the requirements set out in the tender conditions.
Amid the controversy over corruption cases revealed by the Public Ministry, the Morales administration has announced that it will liquidate contracts and take over several highway construction and maintenance projects.
A government issued decree of a State of Public Calamity on the roads will have a term of 30 days, during which period the Morales administration plans to take over control and execution of several of the works that are underway.Without indicating how much will be invested in the process, the Executive explained that it will buy machinery and equipment to carry out repairs and construction of roads.The Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing will be in charge, with the support of the Ministry of National Defense.
Since no proposals were received, the government has decided to extend until May 31st the receipt of offers in the tender to improve the Belize bridge in Guatemala.
The project, for which no offers were received, consists of repairing the railing including cleaning and painting, renovation of sidewalks, replacement of the road surface, renovation of the concrete slab of the superstructure, renovation of expansion joints, construction of approach slabs, non-destructive tests on structure and concrete elements, replacement of supports in the buttresses, provision, installation and commissioning of two scales for dynamic weighing or WIM (Weighing in Motion) weighing and renovation of the fixed scale located at km 14.5 of the road CA-09 Norte,according tothe tender documents.
An $25 million investment has been announced in four roads in the country including 10 additional kilometers to the Tecpan-Chimaltenango-El Tejar route.
The Government of Guatemala will be investing Q200 million ($25.8 million) in four road projects, said Aldo Garcia Morales, Minister of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (CIV), in remarks published by Agn.com.gt.
Three years after the first attempt, the government has announced that the railway project estimated at $200 million will be tendered in 2017 under a public-private partnership scheme.
In 2013 the National Agency for Partnerships for Economic Infrastructure Development (ANADIE) had tried to tender the design and construction of an urban passenger train and a railway terminal, however, it never materialized. Now the government of President Jimmy Morales has taken up the project under the same scheme of a public-private partnership, only evaluating the work at $200 million and not $350 million as projected previously. Diario de Centroamerica reported that the initiative will be presented to Congress.
The proposal made by public sector employers will update the structural safety standards for bridges, dams and minor works, and includes guidelines for reinforcing existing works.
Twelve public and private entities are preparing a code to mandate the construction of earthquake-resistant buildings, for its submission to Congress this year.
"It is important to have a building code that integrates all the rules of planning, design, construction, materials, quality control, monitoring, and for its application to be made obligatory" said Luis Alvarez, CEO of Institute of Cement and Concrete of Guatemala (ICCG) to s21.com.gt .
An environmental impact study has been presented for the improvement of two sections of the CA12 and CA10 roads, in the department of Chiquimula.
The General Departent for Roads at the Ministry of Communications has presented the environmental impact study for the project "Improving Highway Route CA-10 Sections Quezaltepeque - Padre Miguel - Esquipulas - Frontera Agua Caliente, Route CA-12 Padre Miguel Frontera Anguiatú, department of Chiquimula ".
The Guatemalan government's budgetary constraints have resulted in serious delays in payments to construction companies for public infrastructure.
Between January and March progress in the execution of public works was almost nil because of the budget problems facing institutions, preventing them from directing the resources private companies awarded with various infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges.