From the San Juan Gas Network, its director, Ángel Domijan, reported that at this moment there are 16 schools in Greater San Juan that are without natural gas. Given this scenario, they explained that they are seeking to reconnect the service in these institutions and are also working to carry out works in other buildings that are located in more distant departments to reach winter in conditions.
In contact with HUARPE DIARYDomijan explained that the survey was already carried out during December, January and some of February, to which he added that, based on the data collected, the problem of gas supply to schools is addressed, dividing the total number of buildings in at least three groups of works to attend. The first is what he called “schools with cuts”, which are buildings in which there was gas, but last year, Ecogas cut off the service because they detected losses of different magnitude and it has not yet been reconnected.
“We have detected schools with cuts since May of last year,” explained the director and mentioned the case of the Provincia de Santa Fe de Trinidad school, which has been without service for many months. And with this problem they addressed the 16 buildings and grouped them into packages of four schools in order to call for bids for each of these work packages.
The official added that they are already finishing the bidding processes in which the companies that will carry out the works will be chosen and the work will begin immediately. The estimated investment is approximately $45,000,000, according to official calculations. He also said that they are working quickly to provide gas and heating to these buildings, in addition to allowing these schools to prepare a glass of milk for the children.
A second group of works includes comprehensive repairs or replacements of the gas networks in different schools that are located in remote departments such as Valle Fértil, Jáchal, Iglesia, Calingasta, Sarmiento and an area of Caucete. In this sense, two weeks ago the specifications were opened and they are in the Evaluation Commission, from where it will be defined which companies will have to do this work.
“I estimate that in around 20 days the maintenance of these schools will begin,” said the director, who added that in this case an investment of $110,000,000 is expected.
In a third group of schools are those that have an emergency or urgent problem. These are schools in which the devices were recently turned on and the users realized that there was something wrong with the gas equipment and that is why they asked the people from the Gas Network to check the facilities.
“We respond to these emergencies, but we must take into account that, on average, 16 to 20 complaints appear daily. We are trying to provide an urgent solution to everyone. We are removing the institution that has the greatest need, but schools are accumulating as as the days go by and the cold gets worse,” Domijan acknowledged.
There are people, but it’s not enough
To meet this demand, the official explained that he has the Obrador staff, although he acknowledged that they are insufficient to try to respond to all the requests. “There are five crews of between two or three workers,” he said, although he added that if any worker is missing, they are left with 12 workers on average to cover the needs of emergencies.
“We are trying to cover most of the emergencies, but we can’t cope there, that’s why we go to companies to solve the most complicated issues,” he stated.
Data
- 130: These are the buildings that have natural gas from Ecogas. In addition, there are other schools in remote areas that are managed by YPF, which provides them with jugs, 45-kilogram tubes or zeppelins.
- 461: is the total number of school buildings that San Juan has, the majority have gas, although there are still buildings that use firewood, these are schools that operate in very inaccessible places.
