In Costa Rica, the National Road Safety Council has signed a confidentiality agreement with the UNOPS to keep information on two publicly funded road construction projects a secret.
The Government of Guatemala plans to delegate to the United Nations Office for Project Services the supervision and execution of road works valued at more than $500 million.
The fate of road projects essential for the development of Guatemala could be as bad as some of those in Costa Rica, which have also been delegated to the United Nations Office of Projects (UNOPS).See "Challenges to the work of UNOPS".
"After two years the results are not the expected and, in fact, delays in the projects correspond to the typical obstructions and slow management that we are used to with public entities."
EDITORIAL
The actions of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) never cease to amaze. Its representatives in the country not only set out an impossible series of obstacles when the Comptroller General of the Republic requested to review the file on the contract for the new bridge over the Virilla River, on route 32, but now, a week after the request was made, UNOPS is ignoring the Comptroller's order.The entity had established a period of 24 hours for the delivery of the information.
Institutions such as the UNOPS, which supposedly come here to do what the locals can not, should be paid per piece of work for they finish, and not allowed to justify their failures with the same old excuses.
EDITORIAL By Jorge Cobas González
An entrepreneur earns when his business is successful.If it fails to capture a minimum market share and then maintain it, the investment made is lost, and the monthly income established by the performance of its business activities is also lost.Employers charge for their work and earn profits only while the company is successful.The same is true of private-company employees: their wages are tied to company earnings and profits.
While state officials are happy to delegate their responsibilities to the UN Office for Project Services, the Comptroller of Guatemala has declared that its services are "detrimental to the interests of the state".
EDITORIAL
The arrival in Central America of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) was hailed by many as a factor that would allow the execution of public works which are very difficult or impossible for state institutions in the region to run, for various reasons ranging from lack of qualified personnel to simple negligence.