Opposition deputies accuse repeated absences of the Minister of Public Works to the Committee of Public Works, Transportation and Telecommunications of the Chamber.
Deputies accuse “false information” of Minister García by train to Valparaíso and study interpellation
Deputies that make up the Chamber’s Public Works, Telecommunications and Transportation Committee insisted on the urgent need for the Minister of Public Works, Juan Carlos Garciaattend a next session and clarify, according to your criteria, inconsistencies related to the fast train project to link Valparaíso and Santiago.
The parliamentarians accuse that the Secretary of State would have “disclosed false information” regarding the project in a media outlet, referring to the companies that proposed a fast train to link both cities.
Specifically, the Minister detailed in Mega the costs of the projects of the private initiatives of fast trains, which he described as “completely underestimated” after discussing it in meetings.
One of the proposals is Limited Private Initiatives (IPL), linked to the engineering company Euroandina, which since 2019 has been processing its fast train proposal at the MOP.
Nevertheless, Benedicto Garcia de Mateosgeneral manager of Euroandina Ingenieros and partner of IPL, maintained that Minister García is not telling the truth, assuring that they have never met.
“We wish to publicly communicate that Mr. Juan Carlos García Pérez de Arce, current Minister of Public Works, has repeatedly misrepresented the truth in the interview about the Tren a Valparaíso project, made by the national television channel Mega on Saturday, January 14, 2023; given that we have never met him. Therefore, we have never been able to tell him – let alone have agreed with him – that the investment necessary for the development of our initiative was underestimated, or that the costs associated with it were outdated”, he indicated to The Mercury.
“That the Minister lies to the country is something serious”
Along these lines, parliamentarians Hottie Teao (In-Evopoli); Jose Miguel Castro (RN); Gaspar Rivas (CEO); Mauricio Ojeda (Republicans); With Juan Irarraza (Republicans) and Sergio Bobadilla (UDI), asked Minister García to attend the Commission and clarify his statements.
“Here the trusts have been broken. If the decisions of the Executive were made with false or incomplete information like the one we know today, the minimum is that the project be reconsidered and it be exposed with transparency in the Commission. This fact worries us and obliges us to exercise the supervisory role that is our responsibility, so that the truth of the facts is exposed with transparency,” said Deputy Teao.
“That the Minister lies to the country is something serious. For this reason, we need you to come present to the Commission to clarify what you said. You don’t play with the money of all Chileans, ”he added.
In the same line, the deputy Jose Miguel Castro (RN), pointed out that “all Chileans hope that the train takes less time than a car, so that it really is effective (…) We want a fast train and we want the money to be used well because it belongs to all Chileans.”
for the deputy Gaspar Rivas (PDG) “It is important that the Minister of Public Works clarify what the real scope of the Government’s plan is going to do regarding the route of the train that will unite the Metropolitan region with Valparaíso.”
Deputies accuse “contempt” of the OOPP minister
In the voice of the Republican party, the deputy Mauricio Ojeda He explained that “I want to highlight the seriousness of a Minister of State lying to Chileans. There has been contempt for the members of the Commission. He has not come, he does not respond to the inspection letters, around 70% approximately and that is a lack of respect”.
In turn and from the same party, the deputy With Juan Irarrazamaintained that the Secretary of State does not respond to the letters and “that for this Commission is serious, because about everything that this Government does, about every project that there is, there is a blanket of doubt, there is a nebula.”
“We hope that the minister effectively responds to this Commission as soon as possible, the requirements that are made to him, and also explains, above all, why the train does not go through Curacaví, as it was originally, it does not go through Casablanca, as it was the original route” , he pointed.
Finally, the deputy Sergio Bobadilla (UDI), concluded that “on repeated occasions, we have invited this Minister to the Public Works commission. And this minister does not exist. The facts that we have learned through the press are extremely serious. That a minister is said to lie for the second time is considered serious.
“If these explanations are not satisfactory, by the way, this group of deputies is studying a question to the Minister. And if in the interpellation he does not give us satisfactory explanations, by the way, that We do not rule out a Constitutional Accusation, because we consider it extremely serious to be untruthful on the part of a minister”, he concluded.