Thus the idea was to discuss once and for all the status of the different public works advanced by the regime to promote itself for the coming December elections. The completion, wonder of all wonders, will occur in the final months of the electoral campaign! After this overly long post, when in the future I am served again with some “look at what Chavez just opened! Your tax bolivares at work!” I will just need to link to this post. And, by the way, the rare readers of this page will also be able to use this link for rebuttal elsewhere, as a free service from this blog. Also any additional information that could be provided to improve the comments on each work listed below is more than welcome.
But before getting into the nitty gritty details a few considerations.
The tradition of electoral public works
In Venezuela historically any government tried as much as possible to inaugurate as many public works as conceivable during the last year of its tenure. The hope was of course to impress the masses about the prowess of the party in office. This did not work very well as seen by the office holders defeats of 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1993. The first large scale application of the method was in fact under Perez Jimenez, our one before last dictator who tried the plebiscite route in 1957 and thus covered the country in public works such as the Caracas Campus (now an UNESCO site), the Caracas La Guaira highway (now collapsed), the Puerto Cabello to Barquisimeto railroad (under eternal reconstruction it seems), and more. The experience did not work out as expected as Perez Jimenez was ousted a few weeks after the fraudulent plebiscite. By the way this dictator is rather admired by Chavez who tried to erase the date of his downfall, January 23, from our public festivities until he realized that co-opting it in the Bolivarian calendar might work out better. Thus Chavez, knowledgeable in historical data but asinine as to understanding their meaning is reproducing our historical pattern, not realizing that the Venezuelan people have long associated pothole fixing with coming elections.
The method
Thus I had to find a way to rate the impressive collection of public works about to come formally into existence. There were a few criteria to consider: relevance, continuity, Chavez administration direct responsibility in either planning, construction, modification, etc… My objective is not to diminish Chavez: I can hardly do more to diminish himself than to remind to the readers his military regime and the high corruption seen everywhere. No, in all honesty I just want to spread credit where credit is due. When I see Chavez renaming public works from the past to make sure that people forget about achievements of the past, you will surely agree with me that it is important to write such a post as today… thus every entry from the link provided from “flanker” will receive several of the few badges:
- National Project : to highlight things that have been planned long a go as national project and where Chavez is merely the continuator as would has been the case for any president elected since 1958
- Local project : for things that chavismo uses for its national glory but have really limited impact for the country at large
- Chavez initiative : when I consider that most credit or demerit should be given to the present administration
- Chavez delayed : when the schedule has suffered significant delays to chavista administration incompetence or political games
- Additional comments : as needed
The link is here and I suggest that you use a fast connection or be very patient while you open it. It includes a list of 25 public works under way and I will go one by one (really, it is Sunday PM, it is hot as hell and I prefer to be in front of my computer with the fans turned on full speed). Thus with both pages open you will be able to decide on your own. And with this extensive post I hope to have done all the necessary posting required on this matter until next December. As a side bonus I will suggest for those who read Spanish to scan the sycophantic comments that follow that list, demonstrating a perturbing lack of general knowledge in what makes a nation.... Then again today chavista has suspended critical thinking long ago.
The public works
Nº1 The new Maracaibo “under water bridge”
National Project
Chavez initiative
Chavez delayed
Additional comments: I kid you not, that is exactly what Chavez said when he announced the project a few months ago. The page shows only a rather lousy artist rendition of a “bridge” like the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, mixing bridges and tunnels. No solid studies done yet. No comparison with an actual second bridge potential. A project probably not suited for a railroad system which might do better through a bridge considering the local area, climate and soils.
Nº2 A third Orinoco bridge
Local project ???
Chavez initiative
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. High fantasy. Hugely expensive with no local or national need whatsoever. Today the ferry used is more than enough for the local traffic and could easily be expanded at relatively little cost. Not even a fantasy artist rendition in that page!!!! Part of the Orinoco-Apure eje delirium tremens of Chavez and Giordani.
Nº3 Caruachi dam
National Project
Additional comments. Chavez deserves no credit except for continuing what has been started in the 40ies when the first plans for developing the hydroelectric resources of the area where planned. So he did the next best thing, rename everything he could to leave his mark, just as the ancient Pharaos did in Egypt when they erased the glyphs of their predecessors.
Nº4 Macagua II dam
National Project
Additional comments. Observe how sloppy that page is made as the pictures are the same as Caruachi! Otherwise same comment as above.
Nº5 Venezuelan railways
National Project
Chavez initiative
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. This has been a project that always laid dormant. At least I can give credit for Chavez to have really started it. It was in a large way planned before Chavez reached office, but many of such plans were never started. At least Chavez did start. However as a frequent traveler between Caracas and Valencia I can vouch on how slow the work advances and on how often large sections are absent of total activity for months in a row (though there is always a little section with activity, I must admit). Thus I will rate this project as the only one where Chavez deserves most of the credit, and also some of the blame for some unaccountable delays.
Nº6 Tuy to Caracas commuter railway
Local project
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. There must be a general comment for all the mass transit that are listed below: all of them except for the Merida Trolley were planned and/or started before Chavez reached office. Half of them should have been completed by 2003 or 2004 at the latest. Today all are rushed to be inaugurated before the December election, even if the stations are not finished, or even if one of the rail lines might be missing (as is the case of the Los Teques one!). In addition there has been a lot of resentment expressed in the provinces about the Tuy and Los Teques projects which only benefit Caracas commuters. At least expression of this discomfort forced the government to speed up mass transit projects for other areas.
Nº7 Caracas Subway Line 3 completion
National Project
Local project
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. Line should have finished long ago. Work was only reactivated when the Tuy mass transit was sped up. In the case of the Caracas subway I rate them as “national interest” because of the money it saves the nation with Caracas impossible traffic and because many of the province's visitors are delighted to use the subway when they are forced to do errands downtown Caracas.
Nº8 Line 4 of Caracas Subway
National Project
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. Note that the page mentions "concluida", finished. Far from it. As I described extensively it is only half of what line 4 will be and it has been delivered far from complete as the stations are still under construction. The perfect example of Chavez trying to steal away credit from other people. This instead of planning the second half for which no word is heard and for which he could claim full credit.
Nº9 Mass transit railway to Los Teques
Local project
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. Long suffering Los Teques commuters should have got this two years ago. Now they might get one line with intermittent trains and the full thing sometime in 2007.
Nº10 Valencia Subway
Local project
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. See above comment. Except that in the case of Valencia the central government delayed funding as long as the Salas held the governorship of Carabobo. Now that the burping creepy general is the governor, they are trying to catch up the lost time which promises an inauguration of a subway with lots of missing parts. A perfect crass public works blackmail against an economically vital city of Venezuela!
Nº11 Merida Trolleybus
Local project
Chavez initiative
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. This very controversial work in Merida seems some kind of delusional project that can be attributed mostly to chavismo from an original tourist idea. Its effectiveness in solving Merida dire traffic situation is questionable as the trolley will have to fight with traffic for its right of space.
Nº12 Barquisimeto Mass Transit
Local project
Chavez initiative
Additional comments. I do not see the hoopla in this project. Barquisimeto is a city whose growth will require soon some subway and the present project will become soon insufficient. A great opportunity is wasted as Barquisimeto could dig at least two subway lines rather cheaply, instead of that proposed ersatz. When they come aroudn to do it, cost will have dramatically increased.
Nº13 Maracaibo Subway
Local project
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. Same as previous comments. Planned long ago, delayed unaccountably because the governor was not of the liking of Chavez, restarted in a rush hoping to benefit the Maracaibo mayor who is pro Chavez even if reelected in dubious circumstances.
Nº14 Second bridge over the Orinoco (why in position 14 when the fantasy third bridge is in position 2? Who writes such lists?)
National Project
Local project
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. Should have been completed already. The road system through Monagas and the railway connections are still years away to make this bridge real useful for the time being. Meanwhile the Ciudad Bolivar bridge maintenance was dangerously relegated.
Nº15 Cardiological hospital for Latin American children
National Project ??
Local project ??
Chavez initiative
Additional comments. Risking to be cynical I do not see why this is on the list. I would have rather read maintenance of all Venezuelan hospitals so that all Venezuelan children could get good care for anything in addition to cardiac care in a Venezuelan hospital. And before Bolivian children come to Venezuela. A truly egotistical project for Chavez, strictly planned for foreign consumption.
Nº16 Iberoamerican University for sports
Local project
Chavez initiative
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. Same as above. In this case the aggravating factor is the recuperation of a previous project AS IF it were a new project. The installations were those of the national youth games held a couple of years ago which are now promoted as a new campus. I happen to know that the curriculum of said university is not approved yet, that it is a mess, that students are already fleeing it, that the climate for a sport university is horrendous and all sorts of other criticism. Truly, a Stalinist project if any, built without any consideration for environment, use, and stuff that really matters.
Nº17 Movie and TV national Studios
National Project ??
Chavez initiative
Additional comments. Huh? A production studio for the Venezuelan state TV is now a great achievement? Private enterprise builds these things faster, cheaper and better. Gimme a break!
Nº18 Llanos Highway
National Project
Local project
Chavez initiative
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. Well, I will be nice here. Chavez has done some promotion here as it is the highway that leads to his home state. Yet some delays were unaccountable (or accountable to juicy contracts disputes according to running gossip).
Nº19 Acarigua Barquisimeto highway
National Project
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. This is one of the famous highways of Venezuela decades under construction. Now Chavez, AFTER 7 years in office pretends to reactivate and speed up the works as if he were the only responsible, the only one that could find a way to finally finish past works. This highway could have been completed in 2001 if chavismo had cared.
Nº20 Highway to Barcelona and Cumana
National Project
Chavez initiative
Additional comments. Same as 19 except that there it seems that there is some real input of this administration in the design. However this might have been a curse as sections of the highway collapsed before this one was even close to inauguration….
Nº21 Renovation of Maiquetia airport
National Project
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. Rather scandalous, not only by the slow pace of the work but by the lack of originality in the project. Let's be happy that at least they are working on something long overdue.
Nº22 New Bridge on the Caracas La Guaira highway
National Project
Chavez initiative
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. This really takes the chutzpah prize! The Caracas La Guaira viaduct collapsed because Chavez could not be bothered diverting resources to maintain such a crucial highway. Now, they pretend to pass the remedial bridge as a big governmental success. It is by scenes like this one that we measure how miserable, and sycophantic driven, is an authoritarian regime. In a normal country which depends so much on a single highway, all the ministers in charge should have been fired, investigated and charged for gross neglect. In Venezuela they just keep going around flashing their increasing incompetence in other fields.
Nº23 New Thermal plant
Local project
Chavez initiative
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. Huh? If any thermoelectric utility becomes a national success………
Nº24 Stadiums for South America Soccer Cup
National Project
Chavez initiative
Chavez delayed
Additional comments. At least here there is some justification for some credit. Yet, yet…. The project is delayed unaccountably and even worse, the lodging services for the expected tourists have not been seriously considered and the required hotel capacity has not even been planned or seriously built. As a result the tourism dollar expected to fill up the stadium for the Cup might be missing. Not to mention that airport service barely accommodates Venezuelan needs and one wonders how they would accommodate additional tourism traffic. That is OK, misiones people will be allowed in for free to fill up the seats. Small note: observe that the author of the pamphlet only gives artistic renderings of the stadiums when there are already plenty of pictures available.
Nº25 New Pampatar Juan Griego expressway (5.4 Km of it!)
Local project
Additional comments. What the f…? a local distributor highway is now presented as big chavista project? Seems that they really wanted to reach 25 and just added anything local they could find around. What next? Filling up San Felipe potholes in position 26?
But you know what is sadder? Whoever wrote this sycophantic and mediocre piece forgot some other true success of chavismo such as the Cryogenic Plant of Jose or the octogonal red modules that now dot the landscape. It is me, bitter opposition blogger as "flanker" would love to have me known that must remind them of what they have been able to do. Geeeezzzz....
At least now I hope that no one else will bother me with this issue.
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