ZIHing is Believing

They're having a rough time with the pier construction. The barge that carries the pilings for the (still) floating crane to pluck off and plant broke apart after some relatively heavy waves and the flooding of one of its compartments (it had been beached for a while), and a neighbor mentioned they saw the crane drop one of the pilings. Not sure if it broke. We did see that they were working to remove the broken pieces of the barge, but it didn't look like they were continuing to set pilings, at least not when we went by there this morning. I worry that, as is habitual with public budgets, so much money was skimmed off the top by polítcos that insufficient funds were left to do the job. A theme we see repeated in public projects year after year. I'm not sure, but it appears there is no penalty for running over budget. The only thing that appears to happen is that work stops until more funds are allocated and sufficient politicians get to make speeches feigning being indignant at the cost overruns. I could be wrong. But as far as I know, the company is not required to adhere to their projected budgets, nor do they become ineligible for further public contracts for such practices. So much about public administration here is remindful of the early-to-mid 20th century in the States.

I thought you might like this view, at least I hope you do, of the Plaza Olof Palme beside the Museo Arqueológico de la Costa Grande.