Mexico City— Two months before the end of the six-year term, Gas Bienestar is stuck in nine municipalities in Mexico City.
The ambitious program, presented by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in August 2021, proposed coverage in the 16 municipalities of Mexico City as a first stage, to then expand to eight states and then to the entire country.
At that time, the presidential commitment was to begin, at the national level, in Tabasco and Veracruz, and then expand to the states through which the Chiapas-Jalisco gas pipeline passes, such as Veracruz, Puebla and Edomex.
“I have not been able to fulfill the commitment that the price of gas will not increase above inflation, but while a maximum price mechanism is established, we are preparing the creation of a company to distribute gas at a fair price: Gas Bienestar,” the president said at the time.
In the final stretch of his administration, the program remains stagnant in nine municipalities of Mexico City: Azcapotzalco, Álvaro Obregón, Iztacalco, Iztapalapa, Miguel Hidalgo, Tláhuac, Venustiano Carranza, Xochimilco and Gustavo A. Madero.
In an official report dated last June and prepared by the Planning and Monitoring Department for Pemex Subsidiary Companies, Gas Bienestar reports declining revenues.
While from January to May 2022 it recorded revenues of 254.3 million, in the same period of 2023 it obtained 183.4 million, and in 2024, 174.4 million.
In contrast, Gas Bienestar has allocated 1,298.3 million pesos for the cylinders acquired to date.
“Currently, Gas Bienestar does not have a budget allocated for the exchange of cylinders, nor an assigned budget, since it operates with its own resources from its sales,” the company indicated.
Between 2021 and 2022, the company received 648 thousand tanks in poor condition for supposed rehabilitation. However, by 2024 it reported 790 thousand 503 rehabilitated cylinders, that is, 142 thousand 503 more tanks.
The damaged cylinders from the exchange were taken to the Tula Refinery, where they were stored in a maneuvering yard. 50 percent of these tanks were collected in Iztapalapa.
The costs of recovering cylinders would include the salaries of 615 workers and the operation of 129 cargo units.
Gas Bienestar is associated with Mex Gas Internacional, a subsidiary of the productive company Pemex Industrial Transformation.
Although it was initially announced as a “social enterprise” that was not intended to make a profit, its reports show that it has made zero pesos in profit.
They accuse poor conditions
Gas Bienestar workers attributed the company’s lack of growth to poor working conditions.
“They are hired as soon as they are gone,” summarized one of the delivery men in Iztapalapa, in the Tepalcates area.
They are delayed in paying sales commissions, have no security against a robbery, and are liable in the event of a leak or explosion.
The drivers and those responsible for loading have a salary of about 2,600 pesos a week. Meanwhile, the “chalanes”, who take the tanks to the homes, earn about 1,300 pesos a week “plus tips.”
#Gas #Bienestar #plan #fails
