| Work Detail |
The Senate began to discuss this Tuesday the Executive Branch project that declares a state of emergency regarding public works in the province. A joint meeting of the Budget and Finance Committees and the Public Works Committees of the Senate was held. Before the legislators, the State Attorney, Julio Rodríguez Signes, gave their contribution; the Minister of Planning, Infrastructure and Services, Darío Schneider; and the Provincial Director of Roads, Exequiel Donda. Committee work went into an interim room until next week, to continue considering the bill.
The meeting lasted more than two hours, with a first intermission where the senators met with their respective blocs. A new interim room was then defined to continue analyzing, next week, the bill sent by the Executive Branch.
In addition to the guests who gave their input to the senators, the secretary of Budget and Finance of the province, Uriel Brupbacher, and the general ministerial coordinator of the Ministry of Planning, Infrastructure and Services, Hernán Jacob, spoke about the bill.
“From the first moment we have been working with companies, workers, Uocra, so that debt situations do not continue to arise and redirect public works,” said the Minister of Planning, who stated that in the first stage it is a process to neutralize, and in a second stage to agree on a payment plan with the companies.
In that sense, he pointed out that all the works are important but “we need money and financing and we dont have them.”
“Today we are asking the Legislative Branch to enact the emergency law that will allow us to have one more tool because we are in a complex situation.” He referred to the seizures of provincial accounts and the need to “stop this drain on resources.”
At the same time, he pointed out that Entre Ríos municipalities suffer consequences because the funds are not reaching them and they have embargo problems.
Together with Jacob, they presented a situation chart in images, where it was observed that the approved budget for works was more than $154 billion, and more than half of that amount contributed by the Nation is in doubt.
Of 167 works underway in the province, 53 are advancing at a slow pace and 114 are neutralized. There was talk of a debt of more than $19 billion, which may be higher. The general ministerial coordinator mentioned negotiation efforts that are not enough, the drop in resources, the increase in costs due to inflation, so the remainder for investment is very scarce.
Legal framework
The State Attorney stated that to date there are 96 trials in executive proceedings and 49 administrative litigation, with an amount under debate of $5 billion, most of it capital.
Rodríguez Signes spoke about legal issues, disparate procedural paths, and understood that the bill under debate pursues two objectives, one is to order and organize compliance with obligations, and another is to have a legal framework for the review of contracts, under the emergency umbrella. In that sense, he left a list with the judgments and corresponding amounts in the hands of the senators.
In turn, the Secretary of Budget and Finance of the province emphasized the inflationary process, the low collection and that today there are no necessary resources, hence the proposal for the emergency.
Brupbacher pointed to a situation of significant financial distress.
After some questions from the members of the commissions, the officials maintained that administratively steps are being taken to claim funds from the Nation, and filing lawsuits are being evaluated. The legislators also showed their concern about different paralyzed works in their departments, after which the Provincial Director of Roads of Entre Ríos made his intervention, reporting on the road emergency in the province. “The recovery of the roads is essential and investment is needed,” said Donda, who added the number of $700 billion to normalize pavements and bridges. Likewise, the natural land plot requires $200 billion, so “the outlook indicates a state of emergency, and we are looking for the tools to defend Entre Ríos and have the least impact.”
Public order law
The bill that was introduced in the last session establishes declaring in the Province of Entre Ríos the state of public economic and financial emergency in matters of public works, as well as the state of conservation of the road infrastructure, for the term of one year, extendable by the Executive Branch for a single time and for a period of 180 days, in order to restructure the obligations and conditions arising from public works contracts, cancel the administrative and judicial debt concerning public works and its interests, according to the budgetary and financial possibilities of the Province; and carry out actions to recover the provincial road network, to guarantee compliance with the functions inherent to the provincial State and the normal provision of public services.
The project maintains that this Law is of public order and its scope will apply to the three powers of the provincial State, including decentralized, autarkic and autonomous entities. In relation to public works, it is empowered to arrange the review, termination or renegotiation of public works contracts entered into prior to the entry into force of this contract and that generate obligations for the Province, as well as the suspension or neutralization of work deadlines. In different articles, the Executive Branch is empowered in relation to cancellation of obligations, and contemplates suspensions in the execution of sentences and precautionary measures.
Regarding the Road Emergency, the Provincial Directorate of Roads is authorized to carry out direct contracts by way of exception of public works, provision of goods, inputs, spare parts and supplies necessary to carry out the recovery of the road infrastructure of the Province.
In the arguments of the project, the process of economic and financial crisis is raised, which manifests itself in a more serious and eloquent way in relation to the public works awarded by the Provincial State, since an important part of it had its financing compromised. by the National State, which, as is known, has been suspended.
In this complex scenario, the province must face the payment of the debts derived from said contracts with its own resources, for a sum that exceeds $22 billion, generating a budgetary and financial imbalance. The situation described becomes more complex due to the exponential increase in judicial processes initiated for the collection of debt certificates, with million-dollar embargoes.
Regarding road infrastructure, based on a survey carried out by the Provincial Directorate of Roads, the Entre Ríos road network is almost entirely in a state identified as Bad (0-5) or Regular (5 to 7), therefore that the initiative includes the declaration of emergency of the state of conservation of the road infrastructure of the province in order to allow its recovery, as soon as possible.
(Between Rivers Now)
Fuente: https://www.analisisdigital.com.ar/ |
