Paraguay minister accuses mayor of selling land, delaying $160 million project

Months before municipal elections, Paraguay's Minister of Public Works, Claudia Centurión, accused the mayor of Mariano Roque Alonso, Carolina Aranda, of selling land intended for a wastewater treatment plant. This sale, Centurión claims, has delayed a crucial $160 million sanitation project funded by international credit.

The project, financed by a loan from the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) signed in May 2023 and approved by the Senate in September 2023, has seen no progress. Centurión stated that the municipality initially offered a plot for the plant, but it was later "sold," forcing a replanning of the entire project. The mayor and council members officially informed the Ministry of Public Works about the definitive land for the treatment plant only four months ago, in March.

“

Our municipal government did not sell any land intended for the treatment plant!

Aranda, who has been mayor since 2015 and is seeking to have her husband, Congressman Marcelo Salinas, replace her, vehemently denied the accusation on social media. She posted a video from March showing the official handover of the land resolution to the Ministry of Public Works, asserting that her administration did not sell any land designated for the treatment plant. She stated that the property has been available to the ministry since then, fulfilling the local counterpart requirements for the project's advancement.

“

From then on, and having fulfilled the local counterpart, said property has been entirely at the disposal of the State Secretariat for the advancement of this emblematic project.