Author: Natalia Trujillo
Deterioration of the facilities, humidity on the roof, thefts in the infrastructure and drug users is the panorama that people who pass through or wait for transportation at the La Secreta viewpoint experience every day.
The El Malecón de La Secreta project, one of the flagship works promised by the administration of the last four years, and what would be one of the great initiatives for the tourist development of the city, was not completed.
However, according to the city’s Secretary of Infrastructure, Claudia Milena Arenas Agudelo, the municipal administration is once again managing and seeking resources with the national government, this time for a sum of 17 billion pesos to execute the project.
“There is a project in the Mirador de La Secreta divided into three phases, of which phase I and III have already been executed, we have a project for phase II that totals $17,000 million and to date, what we are doing is managing resources in the national order so that once they are assigned, if we manage to get them, we can advance in this project,” said Arenas Agudelo.
If the resources are approved from the national order, the idea would be to restructure the works that had already been carried out (phases I and III) and continue with phase II, renovation works that would involve total maintenance of the viewpoint In its infrastructure, however, the allocation of resources is uncertain, because it is a management that is carried out directly from Bogotá.
Read: Works for the road network and the adaptation of sports venues
WHAT DOES THE CITIZEN SAY?
Jhonny Alejandro Soto Blandón, is a merchant who has worked at the La Secreta viewpoint for 5 years. In 2018, when he just started working at the place, he expressed that it was a total insecurity, as he stated that every day he witnessed robberies, the large number of inhabitants living on the street and using drugs, “after the pandemic, more police arrived, they paid more attention, in fact currently there is police service regularly during the day but at night there is a total abandonment.”
In the journalistic tour carried out by the NCQ team at the viewpoint, humidity was evident on the ceiling, and the absence of the lights and the ceiling sheets. Soto Blandón expressed that I hope the viewpoint projects come true since many times everything remains on paper, “Supposedly speaking with the Police there are two plans to change the lights or install some reflectors, in any case the fact is that they put the power on because this at night here is totally unsafe, they have already finished with everything with the railings, The same thing continues, in my place they steal the locks, they force the bars, despite the decrease in the number of inhabitants in street conditions, there is still not one or another missing there.”
In addition, he said that some officials from the new administration had already gone to take measurements of the space and photo, however, he hopes that something more will be done further in this period. “It’s a shame because it is a very beautiful place, people from Valle del Cauca and other places come here to take a photo, look at the landscape, but there is a lack of police presence and the hand of the mayor’s office,” he pointed out.
OPINION FROM THE COUNCIL OF ARMENIA
Councilor Felipe Villamil Ocampo, of the New Democratic Force political party, said that Armenia is a city that should focus on tourism but this potential needs to be developed even more. He said that despite the important offer in gastronomy, hotels and entertainment, although It has improved a little, culturally it is still missing.
“The La Secreta viewpoint project is very important because it had an initial investment in the government from 2012-2015 and if we review the main cities of the country such as Barranquilla or others, since the boardwalks are important, today we do not enjoy having a blue sea but a green sea that I think can be used quite a bit in the tourist sense and demonstrate the good things we have in the department,” said Villamil Ocampo.
The New Democratic Force councilor brought up the time when in his intervention in the debate on the loan project for 60 billion, 14 billion were directed towards national games and 6 billion were going to be allocated for the La Mirador de La Secret since the projection was to include some modules, some public parking bays, improvements in the commercial area, improvements in lighting and infrastructure, improvement in the perception of security and he said that the idea was also to have a cultural offer and thus enhance The tourism.
“I did not approve the loan, not because I was in debt as such to leverage myself and carry out projects, but because of the forms, because I remember that I said that national games should have the resource and not have gone into debt but I said clearly in the debate that I hope not They will take money away from the La Secreta project. It was not that far from what I said in the debate because later the council approved the 6 billion pesos of the loan for La Secreta and then the administration came and told us that it needed them for national games, that is a lack of respect because “I had approved the loan for that project, so it was approved by the majority of the council and today after four years nothing happened,” Villamil Ocampo pointed out.
