14ymedio, Mercedes García, Havana, March 22, 2025 — The asphalt plant of Sancti Spíritus has been closed for at least 15 days, as confirmed by a worker of the entity to this newspaper. From the outside, you can see that the enclosure is completely empty and that its machinery – pipes, cranes, towers and tank systems – is inactive.
Another source in the construction sector explained to 14ymedio that the problem has to do with the “lack of additives and raw material to prepare the substance that then becomes an asphalt mixture.”
The low quality of the product has been the cause of friction between the plant and other related industries, such as the Sergio Soto refinery, located in the neighboring municipality of Cabaiguán, which sometimes exported the asphalt produced in Sancti Spíritus and – according to the source of this newspaper – “has had to return the merchandise because, instead of asphalt, what they have sent has been full of bitumen,” of lower quality, whose application requires high temperatures.
A note published in Escambray this month gives an account of how unstable the situation of asphalt factories in the province is, for which the Government has set a plan of 25,862 tons of hot asphalt mixture throughout the year, plus 5,000 of cold asphalt. The managers claim that they “aren’t giving up” on that goal, but they see it as more and more distant.
The main municipality is not the only asphalt plant in Sancti Spíritus. There are also those of Trinidad and El Yigre, in Yaguajay. However, the factory that is closed today assumes the greatest production load. “When it produces at full capacity, the construction process is streamlined since its location in the center of the territory allows less fuel consumption,” adds Escambray.
The factory managers added two factors that prevent production: the lack of fuel and the blackouts. Three days after the newspaper published this complaint, the country plunged into its fourth total blackout in less than six months.
On the table of the provincial authorities is an asphalt plan that will require 19,000 tons of hot concrete. The extensive network of roads that need repair includes the two interprovincial connectors par excellence – the National Highway and the Central Highway – but also that of the South and North circuits, the La Sierpe road, and other roads affected by potholes and lack of maintenance.
The Yaguajay plant, for its part, was stopped for some time “for repair.” In mid-March, Granma announced that production was resuming “progressively” and promised a future “with quality.”
However, a specialist interviewed by the Communist Party newspaper reported that keeping the technology of these plants active “would be quite the feat.” With old equipment subjected to overexploitation, “structures such as those of Sancti Spíritus are among the oldest in the archipelago,” he said. Without “a certain level of investments,” the specialist added, they are doomed to failure.
Last December 24, the asphalt plant of Sancti Spíritus was also in the news, but for very different reasons. Alexey Díaz Salas, 48 years old and one of its workers, was the victim of a fire that left 60% of his body covered in burns. He was taken in serious condition to the hospital in the neighboring province, Cienfuegos, to be treated.
He suffered head trauma and injuries after the explosion of a highly volatile fuel tank, which he inspected without adequate protective equipment. Díaz Salas died shortly after.
The fire unleashed after the explosion, which was heard everywhere in the city, was described by eyewitnesses as “of great magnitude,” according to Escambray. The plant’s tanks stored a fast-curing liquid, a mixture of asphalt cement and a very volatile petroleum distillate, which must be preserved at high temperature to be applied on the road before pouring the asphalt.
The asphalt factory of Sancti Spíritus, founded in 1948 – the oldest in Cuba – is equipped with an old machine, model DK-117, of Ukrainian manufacture, which arrived on the Island during the years of the Soviet subsidy. Over the years, the deterioration and scarcity of parts have taken their toll on the installation.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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