In Seville almost no one calls it the Centennial Bridge. For Sevillians it is Paquito. A nickname that was born decades ago because of its resemblance to the Golden Gate of San Francisco, but smaller. Be that as it may, the truth is that, for the citizens, this infrastructure, a symbol of the city, has become a real headache for years. And now, moreover, the bridge has fully entered the Andalusian electoral campaign after the suspension of some works that depend directly on the Ministry of Transport.
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And this halt, in a state-owned infrastructure, has coincided with the start of the race to San Telmo, putting on the table one of the great problems of the capital of Seville, which is none other than the lack of infrastructures capable of absorbing the growth of the metropolitan area.
The Paquito, designed in the late eighties, was not projected to support the traffic flow it assumes today. Its initial forecast was that about 50,000 vehicles would pass through its lanes per day. Today it supports more than 100,000, according to data from the Ministry of Development. All this at one of the main black spots of the SE-30 and without Seville yet having a real alternative to relieve the pressure. The solution would be another major infrastructure pending for decades, the long-awaited SE-40.
This metropolitan ring road is the one that is called to decongest the traffic of the SE-30, but it accumulates more than twenty years of delays between replanning and unfinished works. Of the 79 kilometers planned, only about 39 have been executed. The rest remains between pending sections and schedules that continue to be postponed.
A halt with no signs of continuity
The renovation works on the bridge started in 2021 and were awarded to a UTE led by Acciona. The goal was to replace the 88 stays of the structure and create a third lane (that is, to have six lanes, three in each direction). The contract had an initial budget of 86.4 million euros and an execution period of 27 months.
But it began to accumulate delays and add cost overruns. The budget ended up around 136 million euros and the deadlines were pushed back to 2025 or even 2026. Now, after the termination request submitted by the UTE following the Ministry of Transport’s rejection of a new budget modification (which exceeded 20% of the legal limit), the project is halted and without a reactivation date.
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The problem is no longer just technical, but transcends to the judicial sphere because the work appeared in the Cerdán case file
The central operational unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard is investigating the awarding of the works within the so-called Koldo case, a case that began with mask contracts during the pandemic and ended up expanding to alleged irregularities in public works awards during the tenure of socialist José Luis Ábalos at the Ministry of Transport.
Also appearing in the case file is Santos Cerdán, who was number three of the PSOE and one of the party’s main leaders. According to the reports incorporated into the case, the UCO places the socialist leader in conversations with Koldo García, former advisor to Ábalos at the Ministry, related to alleged payments derived from public awards and, according to investigators, allegedly linked to the facilitation of public works contracts.
In the conversations recorded in the case file, there are references to alleged payments related to different awards, including the work on the Sevillian bridge. The Civil Guard suspects that part of these works may have served to channel illegal commissions. The complete file of the operation was seized by court order.
Moreno, the president of the Junta and PP candidate, links the suspension of the works to corruption
This investigation concerning such a vital infrastructure for Seville could cost María Jesús Montero, the socialist candidate in the May 17 elections. The politician is called to regain the trust of her parishioners who, in the 2022 elections, with Juan Espadas at the head of the formation, stopped putting their ballots in the box. So much so that PSOE-A obtained 30 deputies, the worst historical result for the party in Andalusia and a debacle they did not see coming.
The president of the Junta and candidate for re-election referred this morning, at a lunch organized by Nueva Economía Fórum, to the suspension of this work which for him constitutes a clear example of the “abandonment to which the Government has condemned Seville and Andalusia in general in recent years.” Moreno has linked the suspension of the works by Acciona to the corruption being investigated in the socialist party’s environment.
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