Studies for new Cuenca-Guayaquil highway to begin; Photo radars go operational Monday; Waste water treatment plant delayed; Hotel occupancy revised

Viernes, 24/2/2023

Hola, Todas –

Titular –

Diez fotorradars registrarán multas a partir del lunes (Ten photo radar cameras to record fines starting Monday) – The contract between EMOV and the Movil Technology Consortium will start el lunes, 27/2, with the first 10 radars issuing tickets for speeding, illegal turns, not respecting stop lights, and blocking intersections or pasos cebra (zebra crossings for pedestrians). Notice of infractions and the fines will be sent by email and include the time and place of the infraction, photo of the license plate, the law governing the infraction, the possibility of contesting the ticket <But my speedometer showed I was only going 80 kph>, and information about the agent in charge of verifying the infraction. The radars will not have a range of tolerance – if the posted limit is 90 kmh, driving at any speed over that will be sanctioned.

New photo radar units that can issue speeding tickets begin operation on Monday. (El Mercurio)

Another 32 photo radars will be installed at 16 points previously established. Their installation was delayed because of other road work such as paving and recapping the roadway. <I hope installing these cameras don’t involve digging up that brand new paving which would be common municipal public works timing. Maybe worldwide? Definitely in the US.> Another important part of the contract is a monitoring room and the collection center. Those will be in Misicata where there is already a camera monitoring station. Ticket payments can be made virtually or at windows in the monitoring station.

Cuenca –

El proyecto Guangarcucho postergado sin plazo cierto (Guangarcucho project postponed with no certain timeframe) – After a year and half of back and forth with documents, proposals, and observations, the new waste water treatment plant at Guangarcucho has been postponed again. The decision was made not to continue with the contract award process since none of the 3 proposals to ETAPA conformed with the terms of reference. The proposals were submitted el 15/11/2021 by Acciona Agua, Consorcio BA PTAR CUENCA, and Hidalgo & Hidalgo. After a review by ETAPA, the Consorcio BA PTAR CUENCA met the terms, but was rejected by the banks financing the project since the project director did not have the required experience.

The project will be rebid with different conditions in the expectation that more bidders will be attracted. Financing the $63 million project is another issue. The Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina (CAF) and the Banco Europeo de Inversiones (BEI) committed to lend about $34 million each. The contract with BEI was signed el 24/1/2020 with a condition that the money would be used in 4 years with a fee of $480,000 if the money was not used in that time. <Just in case, better order your composting toilet now. Then you could literally sell your poop to EMAC.>

De El Mercurio del jueves, 23/2:
Ocupación hotelera en el feriado fue del 73% (Hotel occupancy during the holiday was 73%.) – <This is for all you statistics junkies.> With about 74,800 visitors to Cuenca during the holidays, hotel occupancy was at 73% according to a survey of 116 hotels, hostals, hosterías and guest houses. The survey was conducted el pasado martes and showed higher occupancy rates than previous estimates. $6,656,672 was generated in income with an average daily expenditure of $89 per person. The airport saw 5,320 passengers on 65 commercial and private flights. 5,132 passengers went through the Terminal Terrestre on 2,328 trips. Mass gatherings attracted large crowds of locals and tourists including 35,000 people at the Jueves de Comadres y Compadres <That’s a lot of people stuffed into SF Plaza. I wonder how much all those cans of carioca cost?><, 25,000 to the “Carnaval de los cuatro ríos: Agua o Peseta” parade<, and another 68,466 who went to concerts, activities, and museums.

Nacional –

Inversión para vía Cuenca-Guayaquil (Investment for the Cuenca-Guayaquil highway) – According to Pres. Lasso, a contract for feasibility studies for a new highway between Cuenca and Guayaquil will be signed el 10/3. According to the designs, the highway will have 6 lanes and allow an average driving time of 2 hours and 38 minutes between the two cities. The cost would be about $1.2 billion. There are 2 alternatives: Cuenca-Biblían-Churute-Durán-Guayaquil or Cuenca-Tambo-Kilometro 26-Durán-Guayaquil. Which one is chosen will depend on the cost of compensation for land acquisition. <I’m assuming that I’ll be to old to drive down to Guayaquil or dead by the time the road is built. Maybe even by the time the first ceremonial shovelful is dug.>

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne