The Legislative Assembly, with 66 votes, authorized the Ministry of Finance to incorporate US$12,669,667.00 to the budget of the Ministerio de Obras Públicas (MOP). This money will be used to purchase rights of way and make urban resettlements in La Libertad, these actions are necessary for the execution of two road infrastructure works: the construction of the Francisco Morazán viaduct, on the Los Chorros highway, and the widening of the Surf City road, from El Obispo beach to El Zonte beach.

The parliamentarian of Nuevas Ideas, Suecy Callejas, explained that the purpose of injecting resources to the institution is to make them available to finance actions contemplated in the two projects, which will strengthen road connectivity and boost the economy.

"This initiative has the purpose of financing the acquisition of rights of way and urban resettlement for investment projects, favoring and strengthening connectivity", mentioned Callejas.

The funds that the Treasury will transfer to the MOP come from a surplus of revenues from the Tax on the Transfer of Movable Goods and the Rendering of Services, in relation to the estimates programmed as of september 2023.

"Thanks to the good tax collection, the Treasury can allocate funds to strengthen the work of Obras Públicas and FOVIAL, in order to maintain the country's road network", said Deputy Giovanny Zaldaña.

While his colleague Felipe Interiano emphasized that road transformations mean progress for El Salvador.

"The best example is the execution of the Los Chorros viaduct, since it has an ambitious bet to have eight lanes for the social mobility of salvadorans", he said.

Benefits of the megaprojects

The Francisco Morazán viaduct, in the Los Chorros section, will directly benefit 360 thousand people residing in Santa Tecla, Lourdes Colón and San Juan Opico (all municipalities of La Libertad) and indirectly 4 million users of the road network in that area.

This project will have eight lanes and is intended to facilitate the mobility of people traveling from the western part of the country. In total, 15 kilometers of highway will be intervened from the Las Delicias neighborhood, in Santa Tecla, to the San Juan Opico turnoff.

The other infrastructure project is the widening of 23 kilometers of road between El Obispo and El Zonte beaches, in the Surf City circuit. This project seeks the economic and tourist development of the area.

Translated by: A.M