On June 3, the capital municipality will carry out a procedure to compact vehicles that were opportunely detained for being in violation, and that were never claimed by their owners. There will be 232 motorcycles and 9 cars that are in the Depot of Retained Vehicles (DVR), better known as the Municipal Corralón, located at Pte. Perón 3575.
The vehicles date from 2016 to the end of 2023, and compaction has its foundations. First, the elapsed time and occupied space usage on the DVR; Second, the environmental pollution – in the air, soil and water – generated by these vehicles sitting for so long. But how do you proceed to scrap and compact vehicles?
“The first step is decontamination of vehicles to be compacted. To do this, polluting and flammable fluids are mainly removed (remnants of fuel and oil, for example),” Daniel Minetti, Executive Director of Traffic Control, Road Safety and Municipal Transportation, explained to El Litoral.
In most cases, a press that does not belong to the Municipality, but rather to the company that removes the scrap, is used for dismantling and compaction. “But depending on the volume of what will be converted into scrap, sometimes the motorcycles are loaded directly in the state in which they are, but the decontamination is carried out anyway,” he clarified.
Available space
“We are at the limit of capacity in the corralón. In fact, some time ago it was agreed with the provincial government that more motorcycles detained by the police in our vehicle control operations would not be entered (to the DVR), within the framework of decree No. 460 of 2022 (which allows the Santa Fe police to retain motorcycles, if their domain cannot be proven),” said Minetti.
This “bottleneck” of the capacity used in the corralón was what was found once Juan Pablo Poletti assumed office as mayor, due to the “few vehicular compaction procedures in the previous municipal administration,” said the executive director.
With the next compaction, space will be freed up, and, therefore, control operations from the municipality will be reinforced, Minetti added. “But the link with the police force will also be resumed so that the officers can deposit motorcycles that they retain on public roads, due to the aforementioned decree,” he stated.
After decontamination and dismantling, the vehicle parts are compacted by a press. The picture is only illustrative. After decontamination and dismantling, the vehicle parts are compacted by a press. The picture is only illustrative. After compaction, it is estimated that there will be about 1,750 motorcycles, and about 15 cars retained in the corralón, which have not yet exceeded the administrative time that is established by rule until they can be dismantled and compacted by the municipality. In addition, of the total number of motorcycles retained and taking up space, there are already some that are in the process of being compacted in the near future, the director said.
Environmental impact
As mentioned, another of the foundations of compaction is the negative impact on the environment generated by these retained units after a certain time. “That impact is very high. We are talking about units that have been retained since 2016: eight years. Many vehicles have oil, lubricant, and fuel leaks. This contaminates both the soil and the atmosphere,” Minetti explained.
See alsoThey compact vehicles and auto parts seized from criminal organizations The capital municipality reported through its official channels that a report had been requested from the Secretary of Urban Management and Environment, which warned of “a significant risk of negative impact due to contamination for both the soil and the atmosphere, due to the leakage of fluids contained in pieces and parts of retained vehicles, which creates a risk for human health and the environment.”
But in addition, some vehicles are in the courtyard of the corralón: they are located there because they were found in a state of abandonment on public roads, such as burned cars. They are not vehicles detained in municipal control operations, it should be clarified.
“These abandoned vehicles that are in the courtyard of the corralón accumulate water after the rains. And that accumulated water can end up being an infectious source of certain vectors (Aedes aegypti, rats and other vermin),” the municipal official pointed out.
There’s time
Domain owners still have time to regularize their situation by paying the corresponding fines and fees and, in this way, be able to withdraw them before they are compacted. The compaction procedure is based on resolution No. 28 of May 17, 2024 of the Municipality, in addition to Law No. 11,856 and Ordinance No. 11,216.
See alsoIn a Santa Fe city, vehicles are compacted and the profit is donated to the Center for Help for the Disabled “As the holder of a unit in the compaction lot, you can go to the DVR and request that your vehicle be removed. That person is given a period by which they must regularize the situation before the Misdemeanor Court to recover their vehicle,” the director stated. The units that will be dismantled and compacted on June 3 are published on the municipality’s website (https://santafeciudad.gov.ar/).
