Since 2011, the company Ingenieria y Desarrollo industrial SA has benefited from contracts for Q456.7 million, from two municipalities and the Empresa Portuaria Quetzal (EPQ) for work to improve public lighting. Last November the municipality of Mixco awarded him Q341.8 million to do the same work for 25 years.
The work, according to the specifications of the award, consists of changing the existing luminaires with LED-type luminaires. The contract includes disassembly and supply and installation of accessories, posting, wiring and maintenance.
In 2013 he obtained two contracts for Q114.8 million. One of Q110.6 million corresponds to a 25-year concession granted by the municipality of Villa Nueva, for the conservation and improvement of public lighting.
The other is from October 23 of that same year for Q4 million 145 thousand, for the supervision of the expansion of the lighting system in a port area; “administrative area, zone 2 and zone 3, of the port estate.”
Claim
Víctor Lemus, neighbor and community leader of the Montserrat neighborhood, zone 3 of Mixco, states that lighting is urgently needed in different sectors of that area, because most light bulbs burned out and were not replaced.
Lemus affirms that in the neighborhoods where the neighbors are organized, the lights are purchased and the municipal workers install them.
“Where there is no organization, municipal staff install the lighting but eventually, or they arrive twice a year, Possibly because they have few staff, if you notify them of burned out headlights they take too long to arrive,” he said.
“It is enough to go see sectors of zones 1, 6, and 10 of Mixco to show that public lighting is deficient. On Bulevar el Naranjo lighting is urgent to avoid accidents,” he added.
Damaso Rosales, an analyst on municipal issues, says that these types of contracts are common in municipalities because they do not have the human resources and funds. However, he emphasizes that it is important that each commune exercise the function of supervising compliance with these contracts and that the comptroller’s office supervises the way in which the contracts were made.
Rosales affirms that lighting in Mixco is necessary on the San Juan road, and on El Caminero, Tulam Tzu and Mateo Flores boulevards.
“In the zone 10 community of Mixco there is little lighting, just like in Bosques de San Nicolás,” he stated.
No lighting
In 2013, the then mayor of Villa Nueva, Edwin Escobar, consensually handed over the improvement of public lighting to the entity Ingenieria y Desarrollo industrial SA, the maintenance of public lighting. The concession derived from audits by the Comptroller General of Accounts and accusations from social organizations stating that there were irregular processes.
Although Escobar defends the project and assures that Villa Nueva has sufficient public lighting, The neighbors think otherwise and affirm that the situation is the same for years.
“There are very dark and desolate sectors, where assaults have occurred, says Karen Cruz, a resident of the Linda Vista neighborhood.
Escobar affirms that the decision to concession the public lighting service was made after the municipality lost Q6 million a year for being in charge of these works.
Engineering and Industrial Development, SA, acquired the administration of the service in exchange for paying Q228.13 million to the Municipality during the concession period.
An attempt was made to obtain a position from that municipality through Social Communication but there was no response.
Posture
By the Social Communication office of the municipality of Mixco it was reported that “It is not a public lighting maintenance event, but rather the granting of the entire service.”
In relation to the indicated amount of Q341 million, they explain that it is in relation to the fee that the Municipality will receive, expressed in Net Present Value, dduring the 25 years of the concession.
They indicated that the concessionaire will provide the service throughout the municipality such as parks, streets, avenues, residential areas, settlements, neighborhoods, among others. They assured that rates for the service will not increase.
The commune indicated that the start of the concessionaire’s operations will be after the Electric Company of Guatemala (EEGSA) transfers the public lighting rate to the concessionaire, which is in process.
“Upon completion, the project to improve the entire public lighting network will formally begin. The work will begin in zone 1 of the municipality,” they say.
Regarding how public lighting has been maintained before the concession, the commune responded that corrective maintenance was carried out on a limited basis with long response times by the companies that provide this service.
“The energy will be paid directly by the concessionaire. “The Municipality will receive a monthly fee from the concessionaire and the lighting levels will be improved,” he pointed out.
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