Major construction projects underway; Road work slows traffic on alternate Guayaquil route; Land purchases by Viteri’s ex investigated; Adult ed project

Lunes, 28/3/2022

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Titular –

Aluvión enciende las alertas (Alluvium triggers alerts) – See Monday’s stories in CHL.

Cuenca –

Construction work at the new interchange next to the Bomba de los Choferes on Av. Las Americas is underway, prompting complaints by businesses and residents. (El Mercurio)

Obras en marcha al norte y sur (Work underway to the north and south) – Several major public works projects have started or will start this year. The new interchange next to the Bomba de los Choferes (Drivers Gas Station – bomba = gasolinera = gas station – your word for the day.) <Bomba also = pump – just to confuse you.> started last week with milling the asphalt layer that covers the concrete slab. A lane of las Américas has been closed which worries the neighbors and businesses. There will be a meeting to address the concerns of the restaurants and vulcanizers. There are 3 shifts working until night with plans to add another shift. <So 24 hours of construction work for the poor neighbors to live with?> The project is expected to take 8-9 months.

Construction has also started on the Isauro Rodríguez bridge which will connect 1° de Mayo and calle Manuel Córdova Galarza. Contractors are excavating and removing rocks for the bridge buttresses. The bridge will be 4 lanes wide. The new parque Piedra de Yanuncay is being built next to the bridge and is at 40% completion.

Other projects are the ciclovía next to the río Yanuncay which runs to the Machangara zone. This should be delivered the end of this week. Road improvement projects for 2022 include repaving of De Las Américas and Don Bosco. Construction of mercados for El Cebollar, El Valle, and Ricaurte should start in the next 2 months. The Municipio and the GAD of El Valle have signed an agreement to improve the vía de El Despacho which connects Monay and Baguanchi with El Valle parish.

Nuevio plan para culminar bachillerato (New plan for to finish high school) – Youth and adults who did not finish their secondary schooling have an opportunity to get high school diplomas at no cost. Teens 15 and older can study the Educación General Básic Superior (General Basic Higher Education), which will result in a bachillerato for those 18 or older. There are only 2 requirements which are basic office automation skills and a complete academic transcript demonstrating the levels passed by the applicant. <How does someone without a high school degree learn basic office automation skills? Unless those skills are how to work a smart phone.> Lacking this, applicants can go to https.//adistancia.educacion.gov.ec to take a placement test. With that information, applicants can go to the Ministerio de Educación district closest to their house to complete their registration. In Cuenca, these offices are at Bolívar y General Torres, and the basement of the Banco Central on Calle Larga. Registrations are open from 13/4 to 1/5 with introductory classes from 16-27/5. The main academic session will be from 13/6 to 18/9.

Those interested can go to https.//juntos.educacion.gob.ec/index.php/ofertas-extraordinarias. <I bet a lot of you know an Ecuadorian who never got past 8th grade – like maybe your cleaning lady – who could benefit from this.>

Region –

Intenso tránsito afecta obras (Heavy traffic affects construction work) – The carretera (highway) Biblián Zhud, which is the main alternate route to Guayaquil since Cuenca-Molleturo-El Empalme closed, is supporting heavy traffic at the same time a 10 month road improvement project is going on. <Kind of like trying to resole your shoes while you’re on a long hike.> According to MTOP in Cañar, the carretera took about 10,000 vehicles a day before the closure of km. 49 in Molleturo and now carries between 15-20,000. Current work on the road is repair of winter damage and smaller projects such as gutters, repaving bridges, placing drains, and building new 25m. wall in response to an undercut in the Amarillal sector.

Trabajos en la vía Molleturo (Work on the vía Molleturo) – A military and police contingent is still at the site of the stabilization of the slope at km. 49 of the vía Cuenca-Molleturo-El Empalme. Current work is the construction of berms to continue the placement of crown ditches and a dynamic barrier. The objective is to temporarily reopen the road for the Semana Santa (Easter) holidays after which the road will be closed again in order to remove large rocks from the slope. The Ministerio is allowing vehicles only for residents of Molleturo to pass between 5-7:00 and from 17-18:00.

On another road-work site, the vía Cuenca-Loja has been reopened in the San Lucas sector to vehicles after the installation of a sewer. That project took 20 days. <So you can now book that weekend at Izhcaluma in Vilcabamba.>

Nacional –

Compras millonarias hizo el exesposo de Cynthia Viteri (Millions in purchases made by Cynthia Viteri’s ex-husband) – Joaquín Villamar, the ex-husband of Guayaquil mayor Cynthia Viteri, bought large tracts of land very close to where a new airport for the city will be built. This was done on 15/5/2020 while he was still married to her. Additionally, he has a large piece of land of 159.6 hectares, bought 6 months before the divorce. The airport project was originally proposed by the ex-mayor Jaime Nebot, but has been pushed by Viteri since the end of 2019. <I wonder what the divorce settlement said, and if there are dots to connect.>,

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne
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Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper (please don’t ask her for them). The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.