The Municipality of Montevideo (IM) is working on two debt projects: one for 70 million dollars to carry out sanitation works and another for 50 million dollars for urban, environmental and mobility development. To approve both credits, the commune has the road paved, since for the first one, first, has the approval of the opposition, since it requires authorization by a special majority of the Departmental Board; and for the second it only requires the votes of the Broad Front (FA).
The $70 million loan is a new proposal to be submitted to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which already has the backing of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), which enabled the start of formal negotiations, according to the commune. Thursday. Based on this news, the director of Environmental Development of the IM, Guillermo Moncecchi, called the departmental leaders of the parties to inform them of the situation and initiate meetings to outline a proposal that has the approval of all before be sent to the IDB. This in order that, once the project obtains the endorsement of the multilateral organization, in the Departmental Board only its vote remains and it will not be modified again.
In April, after months of negotiations, a project for the same amount was shipwrecked when it did not obtain the votes in the legislative body of Montevideo. As it was a loan to be paid beyond the end of the period of the departmental government, a special majority was needed for the approval of the project, which the Broad Front (FA) did not reach only with its votes, but required three more ; He managed to get the two mayors of the Ciudadanos red sector to support him, but he still lacked one.
In this case, the same problem arises, but with one caveat: it is feasible that the IM has the support of the opposition parties because the loan will be used for sanitation works; Precisely this was the main claim of whites and reds, who complained about the proportion of the amount that was intended to be derived for cleaning and asked that it be full for sanitation.
Rafael Seijas, coordinator of the caucus of mayors of the National Party (PN), told the daily that his political force has an attitude of “expectation” for the commune project and assured that “the PN has historically always supported loans for sanitation.” In other words, if the entire amount is finally allocated to that item, “it will count” on your support, he said.
In this case, the accounts they make in the PN is that a project of these characteristics “will allow 20,000 neighbors to clean up”, when in the previous one “there were only 2,000 [ciudadanos]”. In line with this, Seijas assured that on that occasion “all the efforts” of the PN “aimed at finding a way to finance more sanitation with that loan”, and pointed out that now there is “another predisposition to dialogue” on the part of the IM.
For his part, Felipe Schipani, general secretary of the Colorado Party in Montevideo, assured that “the party’s position is favorable” and that he transmitted it to the councilors. “When the previous loan was proposed, the debate was not about sanitation, which is absolutely necessary and has always been financed with international loans, but rather that the discrepancies were due to the purchase of consumable goods. [para limpieza] with a loan for so long,” he said. He added that now, as the loan will be earmarked for sanitation, he does not believe there are “major inconveniences” to vote for it.
“We all agree that it is essential to finish sanitizing Montevideo, there is still a significant number of residents of the department that do not have sanitation. This [por el nuevo préstamo] no doubt it will contribute to it. I rule out that the party and all the opposition are going to be accompanying”, Schipani pointed out.
Meanwhile, the coordinator of the caucus of mayors of the FA, Patricia Soria, told the daily that “it would be quite contradictory” if the departmental opposition parties, after demanding more resources for sanitation, denied their votes for this project, for which he remains hopeful that it will be approved and that it will “solve a problem of human dignity” in the capital. In turn, he hoped that, as there will be meetings with the opposition prior to sending the project to the IDB, “if there are recommendations from the parties, they will be made before the final text is presented, in order to avoid a back and forth with the multilateral body.
In parallel, as reported The Observer and confirmed the daily with sources from the IM and the FA, the commune will also present a project for the Departmental Board to enable a trust for 50 million dollars with a local bank -which will be defined later “according to the interest rates” of each entity – for works “oriented towards urban, environmental and mobility development”. This includes various works in the capital outside sanitation.
This other indebtedness is easier to qualify, since the project anticipates that it will be paid before the end of Carolina Cosse’s government period and therefore does not require special majorities in the Departmental Board.
In total, both projects add up to 120 million dollars, the same amount for which in 2021 the commune requested authorization from the Executive Power to contract a loan with the IDB; instead, the MEF authorized a credit of 70 million, which finally foundered in the Departmental Board due to the lack of votes from the opposition. Now, with these two projects underway, the FA indicated that it is expected that the last stretch of Cosse’s period at the head of the commune will be “moved” in number of works.