Despite minister’s assurances, Arévalo to seek concurrent audit of bridge projects

President Bernardo Arévalo plans to ask Guatemala’s Comptroller General of Accounts to monitor disputed bridge projects while they are being built, rather than waiting until construction ends.

Arévalo said a concurrent audit would allow the comptroller to follow the projects from the beginning and flag possible errors or irregularities in time. “We are not waiting for implementation to finish and then having the audit carried out,” he said.

The move follows questions about the award of three bridges under the Priority Road Infrastructure Law. Communications, Infrastructure and Housing Minister Norma Zea defended the process at a news conference at the National Palace. She said the contracts used a special emergency bidding procedure under Article 95, which operates under the specific road-infrastructure law rather than Guatemala’s general public procurement law.

Zea said the procedure allows contracting within 15 calendar days, including evaluating bids, awarding the work, preparing the contract and publishing it on Guatecompras. The law also permits direct contracting, she said, but the ministry invited three companies for each bridge to add competition.

An investigation published by La Hora found that participation was limited under the invitation mechanism. The three contracts total Q276.94 million, and an estimate put possible overpricing at as much as Q148.6 million. That difference has not been officially determined to be an overcharge. Zea rejected the characterization that the projects were overpriced.

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We are not waiting for implementation to finish and then having the audit carried out.