Cuenca’s Proposed Municipal Cemetery Still Has No Construction Date

Cuenca’s proposed new municipal cemetery remains unbuilt and has no defined construction date, according to a November 1 report by El Mercurio. The current manager of EMUCE EP, the municipal cemetery-services company, estimates that building it would cost approximately $14 million.

The proposal concerns around 11 hectares in Santa Teresita, Monay, opposite Santa Ana cemetery. That is about four hectares more than the area of the existing cemetery. The municipality declared the land to be of public utility in 2011, but the project has remained pending through 2026.

Land payments and a long-running dispute

The land was the subject of a legal dispute lasting more than a decade. EMUCE EP manager Luis Andrés Peñafiel told El Mercurio that payment was completed in 2023 after a legal process extending beyond 12 years. He also offered to explain how the payments had been made and the total amount paid.

That account concerns the land payment. It does not mean construction has begun: the newspaper reports that a building date remains undefined.

Designs exist, but the project remains a proposal

Universidad del Azuay presented an architectural proposal in 2017. Universidad de Cuenca followed with a thesis containing another design proposal in March 2023. These are proposals for the future facility; the source does not describe an operational new cemetery.

Meanwhile, the current municipal administration says the Cementerio Patrimonial de Cuenca has at least eight more years of operating capacity. The existing Municipal Cemetery was declared National Heritage in 2002.

For residents following the city’s cemetery services and infrastructure, the distinction is between a longstanding land-and-design project and a facility ready to open. The estimated construction cost, existing proposals and reported land payment are documented, while the construction date remains unresolved.

Sources: elmercurio.com.ec.

Image: AI-generated editorial illustration; not a documentary depiction of the events reported.