Bartolomé Pujals proposes the National District government retake many of its attributions that have been delegated to the central government. Pujols is running for mayor for the National District on the Al Pais ticket.
In an interview on La Cuestión radio talk show with hosts Patricia Solano and Diana Lora, Pujals said he is inspired by ideas that give priority to the people rather than to cars in the city. This means tackling traffic congestion in the city that past municipal authorities have delegated to the Ministry of Public Works agencies.
He argues there is a need for a municipal agenda with commitments for the municipality getting involved in public transport to solve the traffic problem. “Cars need to be a luxury, not a necessity,” he says. He wants the city government to manage municipal transport and offer concessions to companies that want to participate. He wants to retake the rapid transit exclusive lanes on city streets that was attempted by first Amet director Hamlet Hermann and was defeated by the priority given to bypasses and underpasses.
He says rapid transit bus exclusive lanes should operate on main thoroughfares such as Av. John F. Kennedy, Av. Máximo Gómez and Av. 27 de Febrero as many years ago. This, he said, was before governments gave priorities to cars versus people, installing bypasses and underpasses on the main avenues to expedite motor traffic. He calls for reorganizing city streets, prohibiting parking on both sides.
He observed the contradiction that the opening event for the campaign of opposition party candidate Carolina Mejía of the PRM open her campaign with a caravan filled with gas-guzzling motor vehicles in a parade to show strength.
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La Cuestion
El Dia
18 December 2019