There are good prospects for the deteriorated Puno routes of the province. At least on paper. Next month, the paving of almost 39 kilometers of provincial route 27, between Olacapato and Salar de Pocitos, will begin. The construction of the road bypass in Campo Quijano continues. And the Nation announced the commitment to restart the repair of a part of national route 51.
The first two works correspond to the Province and their completion is ensured with the financial contributions of the state-owned company Energías Energías y Mineros de Salta (Remsa). Meanwhile, the paving of Route 51 depends on finally, this time, after decades of unfulfilled promises, national funds being derived.
The arrangements on provincial route 27 began in mid-2022 with the consolidation of the dirt road between Olacapato, at the intersection of route 51 and Salar de Pocitos. They then continued along the same route to El Tolar.
The director of Roads of the Province, Gonzalo Macedo, assured, in an interview with Radio Salta, that they will begin to lay the asphalt layer on the first section of the 27 in July and the work will be carried out by the personnel and with machinery from his organization. .
Regarding the Campo Quijano bypass, which will connect national route 51 with provincial route 36 (which leads to Rosario de Lerma), he said that the work covers about 6 kilometers, and already has a progress of nearly 60%. There is also the provision of a services and commerce corridor.
“The first stage that we are going to do this year is to reach route 36, because the idea is that next year we will advance to route 24, which is the Camino Colón, so that we no longer have to touch route 51. Directly Before entering Campo Quijano, coming from San Antonio de los Cobres, there will be the detour where the Río Blanco bridge is,” the official explained.
Of Nation
On the other hand, he referred to the agreement that was established between the Provincial Government and the Nation, through which the central administration transferred some works to the Province and announced that it would take charge of others. Among them the paving of national route 51, between San Antonio de los Cobres and Olacapato.
“That is the bottleneck we have in the department of Los Andes,” said Macedo.
He pointed out that there are three sections of work, 15 kilometers each. “Two of which were already tendered and had started the work, but it was stopped, and the first section, between San Antonio de los Cobres and Mina Poma, is the only one that would have to be analyzed if the contract is terminated or arranged with the company. , because there was a problem after the tender,” he indicated.
“The other two sections already have the companies awarded the work and they were in construction until the end of last year, when the certificates stopped being paid and with the new government those works were stopped directly,” he added.
A job
One of the projects that comes hand in hand with the arrangements of the routes in the Puna of Salta, is the construction of a post for different areas of the provincial government in Olacapato, at the intersection with national route 51. There it is planned to install different offices of control for mining activity, such as Revenue or the Mining Secretariat, among others, as announced by the Infrastructure area of the Province.
