“I am going to show you that I am the mayor with the most works in the municipality,” former president Cristian Copete said on several occasions during his government. Copete dedicated his last years as mayor to seeking agreements and contracting out several infrastructure works that had dozens of problems during their execution. Today, Tadoseños claim a lack of information and clarity about the status of these projects.
According to the planning secretary, Lina Marcela Mosquera Mosquera, there are currently five projects in progress that were left over from the last administration: the only one that is “finished” is the paving of the San Pedro neighborhood, which is awaiting a final audit so that can be delivered. However, residents of the neighborhood have filed several complaints about the work, as they claim that the streets flood when it rains. They also recently requested the installation of speed bumps, a project that the current mayor’s office, under the government of Juan Carlos Palacios, assured would be done promptly.
The pavement of the Reinaldo neighborhood is under construction; the first phase of the synthetic field, which is currently suspended; the paving of the Caldas neighborhood, which was stopped last month and the construction of a box culvert in Playa de Oro, which has been suspended for several months.
Added to these works are projects that Copete announced during his mandate, but about which the community knows nothing: the “Huevos Tadó” initiative and the environmental reforestation of the Alto Chato community, which according to the mayor of Juan Carlos Palacios, are in progress. execution but do not provide any information. As well as the construction of a covered sports center in the Mondo Moncito reservation, an investment of 1,390 million pesos for which no progress is known.
Copete also promised the installation of 400 solar panels in several indigenous communities, a project estimated at 7.81 billion pesos. A promise that, according to the Planning Secretariat, has not moved forward due to problems in the importation of materials. As well as the construction of a recreational park in Villas de Remolino, which has not started today.
From the mayor’s office of Juan Carlos Palacios there is not much information either, they assure that they have requested through legal channels the reports of several of these projects after a broken junction: “There have been a lot of problems, actions with damage that we have had with the projects, but we are working,” says Palacios. This is the panorama.
“There have been a lot of problems, actions with damage that we have had with the projects, but we are working”
Mayor Juan Carlos Palacios.
The construction of the soccer field is suspended
This work is considered one of the most desired dreams of the Tadó community. During the socialization of this project, Cristian Copete, full of confidence, stated that the first throw of the ball in the stadium would take place on December 31, 2023, an event that did not occur. Today the work on the field has been suspended for 17 days. Since Tuesday, June 4, Codechocó sealed the work for not having permits for the extraction of material.
According to the contract, the estimated period for execution was seven months, counted from the initiation document. That is, it was to be executed between November 7, 2023 and June 6, 2024, but the deadline was not met. “There are many delays and we are waiting for a report to tell us why they occurred,” says secretary Lina Mosquera.
The contract, which was signed on September 1, 2023, contemplates the construction of the first phase of the project, which includes the enclosure, the installation of synthetic grass, the construction of one of the two stands and drainage. So far, according to engineer Álex Zapata, the work is 75 percent complete and Mayor Juan Carlos Palacios said on the radio that the work will be delivered on August 12.
The investment was 5,559 million pesos, financed with resources from the General Royalties System and the entity in charge of executing the contract is the Association of Municipalities of Urabá, Darién and Caribe (Asomudacar), designated by the Government of Chocó to execute the resources.
In addition to the delay, the concern of several people in Tadó is how the second phase is going to be carried out, which so far has not been possible due to a problem with a property that the mayor’s office must acquire. According to Mosquera, this stage includes the construction of the second stands and a linear park.
The pavements in Reinaldo, San Pedro and Caldas have dozens of complaints
The paving works in the San Pedro and Reinaldo neighborhood have caused problems for the inhabitants. Although the objective was to improve the living conditions of more than three thousand people, in the course of the work there have been floods that, according to the inhabitants, had not been seen before. Problem that has led the community to complain to the mayor’s office and legal representation, but they do not feel heard.
The San Pedro paving works, carried out by the company Cobertura Global and represented by engineer Próspero Río, began at the end of 2022 and were suspended on several occasions due to alleged irregularities. The community had many disagreements, among them, that they did not know the studies of the work and that the material that was being used for the paving was not adequate. In addition, they were concerned that the material that was being extracted from the beaches of the San Pablo ravine did not have the environmental permits or the adequate cleaning process, so they would be used with contamination from mud and sticks.
Despite all the inconveniences, according to the Planning Secretariat, the paving is already finished and only an audit is missing to make the delivery. However, the inhabitants of the sector are worried: ”They are leaving us with floods, with the box culvert covered and with the rainwater connected to the fecal matter sewer, but we do not know if that pipe has the water capacity for all that water that over time is going to cause damage from collapses,” denounces Nelson Mosquera. In addition, they request the installation of speed bumps and signage.
“They are leaving us with floods, with box culvert covered and with the rainwater connected to the fecal matter sewer, but we do not know if that pipe has the water capacity for all that water that over time is going to cause damage from collapses”
Nelson Mosquera, resident of the San Pedro neighborhood.
In addition, there are irregularities such as that the rainwater from the La Casona sector was directed towards the conventional sewer, something that is not allowed and that the mayor’s office recognizes: “It is not allowed, but here there is no system that allows rainwater to be evacuated. , then sometimes those decisions are made to solve problems. Environmentally it is not prudent,” says the secretary.
The works in the Reinaldo neighborhood, in charge of engineer Jhonier Mosquera Armijo, present the same problem: “We feel happy to see our streets paved, but this contractor Jhonier does not listen to anyone. We suggested to him that the pipe placed in the rainwater drainage in the Cecilio sector was narrow for the capacity of water that passes through that sector and he did not listen. Today every time it rains it gets puddled”explains Edgar Fabricio, a resident of the sector.
Jhonier Mosquera is also in charge of paving 152.94 linear meters of the road that connects the Caldas neighborhood with its surroundings. A contract for 77 million pesos that was signed in September 2023 but whose execution ran from April 15 to July 14, 2024. However, the community has complained because the work was suspended from April 29 to 4 of June.
”This work began at an accelerated pace but less than a month later it was stopped without us knowing the reasons. We are affected by flooding, waterlogging, and a rocky area that does not allow even motorcycles to travel. The mayor told us that the work was stopped due to the contractor’s irresponsibility, however on May 24 we went to a work committee at the site and the contractor said that the work was stopped due to force majeure,” says Eliana Perea, a resident of the sector. .
“This work began at an accelerated pace but less than a month later it was stopped without us knowing the reasons. We are affected by flooding, waterlogging, a rocky area that does not allow even motorcycles to travel.”
Eliana Perea, resident of the La Loma sector.
According to Guillermo Cuesta Panesso, municipal representative, the work was stopped due to alleged threats: “The contractor Jhonier does not obey the requirements of any authority, the work was stopped without fulfilling the legal requirements, arguing that due to various threats from outside groups of the law, the work cannot continue until the issue is resolved.”
However, the mayor’s office claims that they are not aware of any complaints. “The engineer should have provided evidence of the threats, but he did not do so. In a committee, the community was made aware of why the execution was stopped, but I am not aware that any complaint has been filed so far,” says the Planning Secretary.
The Playa de Oro box culvert was left halfway
In the town of Playa de Oro, the Copete administration left a box culvert, that is, an underground concrete structure that allows the channeling and passage of rainwater or small rivers. However, the residents reported that the work was suspended for more than three months and no one gave them a response:
“We told the contractor that the flow of water that ran through that stream could not accommodate the work they are building, and he told us that they are the professionals and that when they arrived on the field they had all the studies in the sector. However, today we find puddled waters, flooding when it rains, damaged families who had their house torn down to build it. But until today the work remains to be seen, those gentlemen worked 15 days and the other 15 did not. They didn’t come back,” says Barion Garcia, a member of the community.
The works resumed on Tuesday, June 11, however, the Planning Secretariat assured that they do not have any information about the project: “With this project we have taken on the task of investigating because they did not leave us information. We are not clear about who hired or who was executing,” the secretary points out.
