“We are not going to spend the next four years doing catharsis”said this morning the mayor of RocaMaría Emilia Soria, during her message opening of sessions of the Deliberative Council. In this way, he positioned himself before a 2024 that he anticipated as very complex from a financial point of view, but promising to “give our maximum effort and redouble our creativity so that Roca’s growth does not stop.”
The community leader presented a scenario of strong uncertainty about the resources that will be available and in response to that, she warned that “it will be a period of maximum austerity”.
Throughout 45 minutes, the references to the national government were constant, without loading his speech with qualifiers, but making it clear that he is on the opposite side of Javier Milei’s administration.
The only moment in the presentation in which he outlined a value judgment about the La Libertad Avanza government was when he said that since National Highways had informed the municipality to remove the traffic lights located on Route 22, at the entrances to Vintter, Mendoza, San Juan and Félix Heredia streets.
“Maybe there is a discriminatory issue,” said Soria, who later told a press conference that Roca was the only city in the region that received that “eviction notification,” when there are other municipalities that implemented the same strategy to avoid collisions at intersections.
“Traffic lights provide road safety. It is difficult for us to understand what Viality’s view is. That is why I ask the officials if they are willing to take responsibility for the incidents that will undoubtedly occur at those crossings.”emphasized the community leader.
Soria presented a panorama of fragility for local finances. “The municipality is seriously affected by the increase in prices. The machinery demands a large consumption of fuel and in the last six months there was an increase of 220%,” he highlighted.
To this he added that there are “total uncertainty regarding co-participation”which currently represents 65% of income.”
From this situation, he said that there will be “maximum responsibility in the use of resources” and that will impose “necessary changes in our way of managing.”
The mayor spoke of “new formulas” to add resources and reduce expenditures, moving forward with an analysis of the cost structure and also an evaluation to implement “a public-private system for works.”
Another decision in that sense will be “the sale of assets that involve an expense, as lots that do not fit into the social subdivision scheme.”
Soria placed special emphasis on defending the works plan that had financing from the National State.
He said that it involves 4,000 million investments in 9 projects that are now paralyzed, “with 318 Roca workers waiting for the continuity of these works.”
The mayor promised to insist that these contracts be fulfilled, although she also announced that some initiatives will be prioritized to finish them with municipal funds. Within that list are the extension of the Quinta 25 water network and the extension of the sewer network in Fiske Menuco.
Furthermore, it guaranteed the continuity of the Canal Grande Walk, from Damas Patricias to Rosario de Santa Fe (for $120 million) and the America Street Walkin the northern zone (90 million).
On the day her father would have turned 75, the president closed her speech by assuring that beyond the “spoke in the wheel” that comes from the Nation, “Nothing is going to get us out of that groove that Gringo Soria opened years ago, in which we are going to continue working.”
We are aware that social demand will be greater this year, but also that we are not in a position to fill the void left by the national State with its liberal government.
María Emilia Soria, mayor of Roca.
2024-03-01 17:23:56