CA-8 highway expansion advances in parts, but projects toward El Salvador border remain pending

Work on the CA-8 Oriente highway, a crucial route connecting Guatemala with El Salvador, is advancing in several segments, though significant parts of the expansion project remain incomplete. The initiative focuses on modernizing approximately 63 kilometers of the road, which includes rehabilitating current lanes and adding two new ones.

According to the Guatemalan News Agency (AGN), earthmoving activities are underway between El Molino and Oratorio. Additionally, the section connecting Jalpatagua and Valle Nuevo is seeing progress in its paving, with a new asphalt layer being applied. The Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure, and Housing (CIV), through its General Directorate of Roads (DGC), is overseeing the project, which aims to enhance the capacity of the route serving municipalities like Oratorio, Jalpatagua, Moyuta, and Pasaco.

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In the year 2022, the previous administration contracted the Jalpatagua-Valle Nuevo subtraffic, with a length of 19.5 kilometers and an initial cost of Q37.38 million, which is finished to date.

While recent work is underway, a portion of the route had already been addressed in previous years. Infrastructure analyst Delfino Mendoza noted that in 2022, the prior administration contracted the rehabilitation of the 19.5-kilometer Jalpatagua-Valle Nuevo subtraffic for an initial cost of Q37.38 million, a project that is now finished.

A major hurdle remains with a contract awarded to Grupo SIGMA to expand the entire corridor to four lanes. Mendoza explained that this project, which has been active for over a decade, only saw partial execution near Oratorio. Work was suspended due to a lack of funding, leaving the CIV to decide whether to proceed with the current contract or terminate it and re-bid the work after new engineering studies are conducted. Mendoza suggested that an alternative could be to await the operationalization of the Directorate of Priority Public Infrastructure (DIPP), which is intended to manage major national road corridors, including Central American routes, though its launch has faced delays.

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There is a contract with Grupo SIGMA that has been around for many years, to expand the entire stretch to four lanes, but only a small part was worked on in the municipality of Oratorio and, due to lack of financing, the work was suspended.