2024-07-06 23:33:56
The Metropolitan Region’s Highway Department, which has a budget of $4.911 million, explained to EL DÍNAMO how it has corrected the weak control and management of machinery used in frontal systems and emergency work.
In the midst of the intense development sistema frontal that hit the Metropolitan Region and South Central Zone In our country in mid-June of this year, a report from the Comptroller General of the Republic set off alarm bells regarding the Weak control and management of disaster relief machinery by the Roads Department of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) of the Metropolitan Region.
The auditing body announced that they carried out an audit considering emergencies or disasters, such as frontal systems with large amounts of rain, which during 2023 and this year have caused havoc causing various flooding caused by rivers and canals overflowing.
Although cleaning or monitoring tasks in the canals require a large budget and are essential to prevent or mitigate the impact of bad weather fronts in the city and in homes near sites with large water inundation, the Comptroller’s Office detected that the MOP’s Viability does not have a maintenance and repair program for its machinery in the Metropolitan Region.
Weak control and deficiencies in the management of machines operating in RM
In the audit that was carried out in the period between January 1, 2022 to 31
May 2023the body also pointed to deficiencies in inventory control y Poor maintenance and repair managementwhere significant delays were found in the management of requested maintenance, in addition to some cases in which Repair quotes and approvals were made after invoices were issuedcontravening current regulations.
In addition, the Comptroller’s Office reported that Several machines did not have inventory numbers nor had they been formally assigned to specific drivers, making their management and tracking difficult..
The agency was also unable to determine how many machines the RM Road Directorate has, accusing that “There is no online system to determine where each vehicle is in case it needs to be moved from one place to another urgently; and the machinery that can park in private spaces is not monitored.”
In this context, the Comptroller’s Office gave a deadline until August 19, 2024 for the deficiencies exposed in the report to be corrected.
The response of the RM Roads Department after the overwhelming report of the Comptroller’s Office
However, after the report came to light, THE DYNAMO contacted the Metropolitan Region Roads Directorate to clarify the worrying points raised by the supervisory body and how they have been working to remedy the deficiencies and weak control of the machines used in emergencies.
First of all, the Ministry of Public Works clarified the budget which they have to carry out the various operations that this context requires.
“The RM Roads Authority has a 2024 budget of a total amount of $4.911 million in the direct administration modality, that is, officials and machinery belonging to the department, who carry out works such as basic roads, and who respond to emergencies when required. In addition, they keep international routes clear for traffic with neighboring countries,” they detailed to EL DÍNAMO.
Regarding the Comptroller’s report, which is an analysis that was carried out between January 2022 and March 2023, the Regional Road Directorate assured that “has already made the relevant corrections observed by the supervisory body, such as having a periodic maintenance program for machinery and of digitization of logbooks in order to avoid questioning.”
As for the number of vehicles that they have available to operate in disasters, they said that have “a total of 91 teamswhich include pickup trucks, vans, dump trucks, mini loaders and backhoes.”
In this regard, they explained that they manage the fleet of vehicles and machines through a computer system, keeping track of all asset movements through daily log entries and the work performed. “This allows us to keep track of maintenance and repairs,” they said.
This system also records which equipment is working and which is stopped for repair or because it is being proposed for a discount.
“Thanks to this system, we were able, for example, to mobilize a series of machines and trucks from different regions in a timely manner during the emergency caused by the fires in Viña del Mar, Quilpué and Villa Alemana, as well as the coordination to address emergencies due to rains in 2023,” they said.
To conclude, the RM Roads Department explained that “all regions have an annual maintenance program that, like repairs, is coordinated and executed with representatives of the brands or smaller workshops that allow for a quick recovery of operations.”