The Liberia Road Management Technical Unit (UTGV- Unidad Técnica de Gestión Vial) presented their first work report under the new municipal administration for the months of May to July of this year.
Dorian Ulate Elizondo, head of the UTGV, presented the report during the council session on August 16. The report shows the repair of 22 kilometers of gravel roads in the canton.
The official explained that the schedule that was in the unit’s work plan had to be changed in order to give emergency attention to the streets in the central district.
“According to the schedule, starting in May, the districts of Cañas Dulces, Curubande and Mayorga were going to get worked on. However, we returned to Liberia to give emergency attention to the streets. For now, the priority is the center of Liberia and later we will get back to the other districts,” he said.
Ulate also indicated that they are working on a project in the Rodeito neighborhood with a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which involves widening and improving 5 kilometers of the cantonal roadway that will connect the Daniel Oduber International Airport to Liberia.
Regarding this report, Mayor Julio Viales Padilla showed satisfaction since he asserted that even though they are working with the same budget as the previous municipal administration, they are giving more support to the work of the municipality’s engineers.
“The Felipe Perez neighborhood was paved with money that was already budgeted. The vast majority of the puddles that existed have been stopped up, retained and drained. [Before], they didn’t let the Technical Unit perform and the engineers did not have the support that they have under this administration,” he remarked.
From 48 to 100 Kilometers of Pavement in Four Years
Julio Viales also reported that the original goal in his government plan was paving 12 kilometers per year, for a total of 48 during his four-year term.
However, with the increase in municipal funds from Law 18001, the municipal budget has grown, and now the goal, according to the mayor of Liberia, has gone up to 100 kilometers of pavement for the next four years.
“Right now, the budget went up to 1.3 billion colones ($2.4 million), and for next year, it is 1.8 billion ($3.3 million), triple what we had, so we are talking about different conditions,” he added.
The council members took advantage of Ulate’s visit to ask about work on the roads in the San Roque neighborhood, located in the central district, which council members Felix Zuñiga and Juan Flores consider to be forgotten about.
However, Ulate assured them that “San Roque has not been forgotten” and that work there is scheduled for 2017.
Another point that concerned councilman Juan Flores is the UTGV’s lack of personnel, but Mayor Julio Viales indicated that they are reinforcing the unit with more engineers under the system of professional services.
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