Mexico, a functional Banco del Bienestar branch located in the middle of nowhere, has been getting a lot of attention on Mexican social media this week. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Mexican president, was one of the very first people to get blamed for wasting government money on useless buildings after the images and footage of Banco del Binestar branch located a long way from any human contact, somewhere in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The building was meant to mock Obrador’s “Fourth Transformation” of Mexico initiative, but a representative of the bank was quick to explain that although bizarre, the location of the branch actually makes sense.
A representative of Banco del Bienestar, Mario Saldaña, said that initially the new branch was supposed to be built in a more central area of Nueva Casa Grandes, a small municipality in Chihuahua, but Mayor Héctor Mario Galaz refused to provide a plot of land for construction, so the bank had no choice but to accept a piece of land donated by the Mexican Army.
The representative then added that if they did not act fast, they would have had to wait for the third or fourth stage of the Fourth Transformation project, which meant that people in the Nuevo Casas Grandes area would not have had access to a bank for their everyday needs until next year at the earliest.
It turns out that most of the beneficiaries of the social programs carried out through the banco del Bienestar only need around 20 minutes to reach the unique branch, despite it being located a long way from town. The building and the parking lot in front of it were completed this summer, but the branch is not going to operate yet. This is because the furniture, computers and other equipment are missing. however, Mario Saldaña said that he expects to be fully operational by the beginning of this October.
The current location of the branch was not the first option, but the route will be vible for beneficiaries who do not own a car, because public transport drops them off 100 meters from the branch. Banco del Bienstar was founded in July 2019, after the intention of President López Obrador to replace the Banco del Ahorro Nacional y Servicios Financieros.
Source: Oddity Central