public works

Interior roads closed

Residents from Azuero to Los Santos to Colón staged various protests yesterday.

While some demanded higher wages, others were hoping for better maintained streets.

Alcibiades Cortés/LA PRENSA

angry: Social Security employees closed roads in Colón yesterday as part of their efforts to gain higher wages. 1144038

For more than four hours yesterday, the route from San Juan de Dios in Macaracas, the path with the largest fleet of buses en Azuero, was blocked due to protesters demanding improved maintenance of the Macaracas-Cruce Sabana Grade road.

The closure occurred on the bridge over the Estivaná River from 5:45 a.m. until 11:20 a.m. The protests were organized by public transportation drivers, farmers, educators and users of this route, who are asking authorities to perform the required ongoing maintenance and water irrigation measures along the road.

Manuel Ruiz, a driver who uses the route regularly, said that "every day we end up with four flat tires due to lack of maintenance to the gravel along this road."

Meanwhile, Paul Tsuchiya, manager of the consortium M&S, Meco and Santa Fe, which was commissioned to repair the road, clarified that the proposed rehabilitation and maintenance project in question has not suffered any delay, and confirmed that they are on track for the date that the Ministry of Public Works scheduled for its completion, specifically next October.

Nevertheless, Tsuchiya claimed that the consortium plans to complete the work two months earlier than stipulated. However, he did acknowledge the social impact that the construction has had on the quality of life of local residents. In response, he assured that additional equipment and materials would be dispatched to cover the potholes, and that measures would be taken more frequently to alleviate the heavy dust that is overwhelming many of the area's residents.

Following the protests by the Macaracas residents, civil activists from the provinces of Herrera and Los Santos closed the road on the bridge over the La Villa River for an hour, demanding a wage increase.

Meanwhile, in Colón, there were several simultaneous closings on the second day of protests for better wages by Social Security employees. Deputy Commissioner Cristóbal Rivera reminded demonstrators that the closures are affecting the rights of others.

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