Acapulco Sues Water Line Breaker
(Acapulco, JG) In a signed story, Jornada de Acapulco reporter Ossiel Pacheco revealed that Acapulco’s mayor, José Luis Ávila Sánchez, authorized a law suit by the municipality against Cocomex, the construction company that broke the main water line connecting Acapulco’s water supply to the Papagayo II water treatment facility, leaving half the city with no water service for up to a week. The company was working on the construction of the highway from Wl Cayaco. Over $2 million pesos are being claimed for consequential damages, mainly out-of-pocket public expenses. The mayor reported that he acted on the recommendation of Manuel Añorve Baños, the elected President of Acapulco and now candidate of the PRI for governor of the State of Guerrero. The announcement was made Thursday in the Zócalo at a press conference.
When asked about Añorve’s campaign pledge to restore water service to all parts of Acapulco, Ávila Sánchez said that when the new city administration arrived in government, it found a completely dilapidated water infrastructure, and that without a magic wand, it would take time to construct new pumping stations. Two of them, El Quemado and San Isidro, are being rebuilt now. The investment has exceeded all historic levels, and will surely bear fruit, the Mayor said. He added that water has been pumping at 100% since last Sunday, when repairs on the broken 48” main were completed, thus supplying about 70% of the city’s requirements. As of Friday, only 5% of the population, representing 23 neighborhoods, was still without service. These areas finally received water in the course of the day.
The Mayor added that Acapulco has invested upwards of a billion pesos in upgrading the water supply, thanks to legislative authorizations permitting the municipality to have access to financial resources normally used for purposes other than infrastructure investment. He commented that part of the problem was caused by the padded payroll, inherited from previous administrations, in which 42% of those on the list were not actually city workers. He hastened to add that the payroll reform would in no way jeopardize the salaries and year-end bonuses of currently productive workers.
