Connectivity to Flores Island, the main tourist icon of Petén, is in a critical situation due to the deterioration of its road infrastructure.
The section that includes the two access bridges to the island have serious structural damagea problem that has gone from being a technical alert to an administrative and legal dispute that keeps repair works at an impasse.
On the one hand, the authorities of the Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing (CIV), represented by the Vice Minister of Infrastructure, Pedro Martínez, and the Director of Roads, engineer Ovidio Álvarez, explained in a summons to Congress, this Monday, May 18, that the road section does not appear in the official records of the institution. As they indicated, this reason legally prevents them from investing public funds in the sector.
On the other hand, the mayor of the municipality of Flores, Eduardo Méndez, argued “The two accesses to Flores are national” and that the only municipal thing is “the islet part of Concordia Park”so the commune lacks the financial capacity to take on a project of such magnitude.
Méndez gave statements to the media this Monday, after filing an appeal for protection before the Supreme Court of Justice against the Minister of Communications, Norma Zea, as well as against the directorates of Covial, Caminos and the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred), pointing out a lack of government support after two years of technical tables to address the structural damage to the bridge.
The mayor warned that the section suffers serious undermining caused by Lake Petén Itzá, which is leaving the asphalt layer in the air, which is why he resorted to legal action due to the imminent risk that the structure will collapse and cause a catastrophe that will affect the thousands of tourists and workers who pass through the sector daily.
“There is practically undermining on both sides of the Petén Itzá lagoon, and in this way, since the bridge is already collapsing, the asphalt layer above the ground is left in the air,” Méndez warned.
“We are afraid that tourism enters every day, that God forbid that a minibus of tourists is going to leave and it will be a national catastrophe”he declared.
The lack of maintenance also drags a legal conflict inherited from 2022, when a road improvement project began in the sector.
According to Méndez, at that time “A stretch of road began to be improved where 60% was given to the company and 40% was not given”but the contractors “disappeared and the biggest problem has been being able to uncover that project and thus be able to award a new one.”
This suspended work has caused, according to the municipal chief, the CIV to give them “for a long time, no one bothers about this legal problem they have, claiming that they were not there at the time.”
In this regard, deputy Edwin de Jesús, who summoned the CIV authorities, described the amparo measure as “a valid action on the part of the municipal authority” due to “the same population pressure”although he warned that the judicial route is a long route that can take weeks or months.
The congressman suggested that “the ideal would have been to have today’s meeting together with the municipal authorities” to advance the formal registration of the infrastructure with the Ministry of Communications.
This procedure, necessary for the central government to acquire legal jurisdiction over the sector, would take between five and eight days by sending technicians to Petén to delimit only the two bridges and the access fill next to the commune. Details and requirements that the same deputy assured that he has already sent to the mayor to send the corresponding official letter and request registration.
Jesús’ deputy assured that the Covial engineer told him that “They have two companies in Petén that have civil works and that may have power, be able to intervene in that section and be able to solve this problem” as an immediate response measure.
However, all physical repairs to the bridge and fill will remain suspended pending this registry that grants legal certainty of the road, an essential requirement without which the ministry is prohibited by law from investing public funds. Delaying the process would prolong the risk in the main tourist area of the department.
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