Frontera NorteSur November -December  2003

According to city statistics, Ciudad Juárez has approximately 55 million square meters of roadway. Of this amount, just over 28 million square meters are unpaved, or approximately 51% of city streets.

While this figure of 51% is frustrating for drivers and implies dust-related health problems for city residents, it is an improvement from the past. In 1995, according to Ciudad Juárez's Urban Development Plan, 60% of the city's roadways were unpaved. Indeed, in 2003, the city paved 1.33% of its dirt roads. 

José Luis Rodríguez Chávez, the general director of Public Works in Cd. Juárez, says there is only one reason why there are so many unpaved roadways in the city: a lack of economic resources. 

According to El Diario, the average cost to pave a meter of roadway is 250 pesos (approximately US$22). This means that it would cost Cd. Juárez over 7 billion pesos (US$608 million) to finish paving all its existing roads. This is a considerable amount for a city with a 2004 budget of 1.7 billion pesos. Put another way, this is more than 5,800 pesos (US$500) for each person in a city of 1.2 million people. 

By border standards, Cd. Juárez does not have the worst record for unpaved streets. Other cities with explosive growth like Tijuana and Mexicali have 55% and 44% of their respective streets in need of pavement. 

Who paves Cd. Juárez?

Currently there are two offices in Cd. Juárez that pave city streets. One is the Office of Public Works which paved 6.5% of the city's dirt roadways over the past five years. 

There is also the Sistema de Urbanización Municipal Adicional (SUMA) which puts city residents on payment plans so that they can have their streets paved. To take advantage of this program, residents put down 25% of the cost of a project and then pay off the remaining 75% over a 12 to 18 month-long period. Once the money has been received by SUMA, paving begins. 

When working with SUMA, city residents are not totally on their own to come up with all the money for the project. To pave side streets costs between 200 and 210 pesos per square meter. City residents pay 160 pesos per meter and the city funds the rest (streets where busses run cost 300 pesos per meter but the city pays 50% of the cost). 

Since 1999, SUMA has paved 0.9% of city streets. One reason for SUMA's lack of progress is that many Cd. Juárez residents cannot afford to make monthly payments. 

Lidia Ortiz López complained to El Diario that  her family cannot afford monthly payments of nearly 2,600 pesos (US$226) to SUMA. Ortiz says that her household only earns the equivalent of US$8 per day. 

The long road ahead

Given the city's growth rate, El Diario estimates that it will take 80 years to finish paving the streets of Cd. Juárez.

Source: El Diario (Ciudad Juárez), December 4, 2003. Article by Gabriela Minjáres.