In December 2022, with the arrival of the former Minister of Transport and Works, Darío Herrera, the intervention of the Neighborhood Integration road or Lateral Pass was announced in this 2023; The first semester has passed and nothing. Carriers and citizens point out that the authorities are not interested in the development of Loja.
Circumstances
The ex-authority assured that they had the studies ready and that “there will be five critical points that must be repaired in this way, for this, there is a budget of USD 3.6 million.” The works would last between 5 to 6 months and would begin in the first months of this year.
Carriers and citizens expected the repair work on this high-traffic road artery to begin, but the sixth month of 2023 is passing and there are no signs of tenders or at least maintenance.
The driver of an urban bus, Carlos José Coello, told Diario Crónica that the road is in complete deterioration, there are points such as Puerto Seco, Bolonia, Ciudad Victoria, Central Menfis, Colinas Lojanas and roundabout of the National University of Loja where the road is sunken or separated by the movement of the earth.
“During the day we provide the service to the public in this way and we must bear the damage it presents, several months have passed and they do not even give it maintenance, especially in failures,” he emphasized.
Instead, Efrén Carpio, a taxi driver, added that small vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, among others, are the most affected. “We circulate along this road artery to avoid the congestion of the city, but in return we must travel carefully through the cracks in the road, which to date have caused more than 10 incidents in public and private vehicles,” he pointed out.
For his part, Afranito Reyes Andrade, a resident of the El Plateado neighborhood, questioned the unwillingness of the authorities on duty to at least give him assistance in short periods until it is intervened —if at any time they do so.
This road, of approximately 15.5 kilometers and inaugurated in 2015, “has had several offers of intervention due to the faults it presents, but only that they have remained in words and meanwhile it continues to be destroyed until it is impassable,” he explained. (YO)