Mayor William Dau sanctioned, last week, the Agreement through which the Cartagena Council approved, in extraordinary sessions, the incorporation of almost half a billion pesos ($407,448 million) to the 2023 budget.
Most of these resources ($338.960 million) will be for investment, that is, for expenses projected to improve the quality of life of the people of Cartagena. The most millionaire items must be executed from the Mayor’s Office and the Infrastructure Secretariat, through 45 projects, to strengthen Transcaribe, the programs to fight poverty and malnutrition, improve mobility, recover public space and continue with the recovery of ways.
The incorporation, one of the most millionaires to the annual budget of Cartagena in the last decade, reflects a solid fiscal management at the head of the Treasury Secretary, Diana Villalba, because most of these resources are the result of a fiscal surplus.
Surplus that, to a large extent, is due to the increase in tax collection and a 2022 with “good economic performance”, which positively impacted the behavior of taxes such as the ICA, the Urban Delineation and the urban Property, explained the economist Jaime Bonnet in his column on March 12, here in El Universal.
Due to these “good results”, said the financial evaluator Fitch Ratings, in a report on May 10, Cartagena improved its financial rating.
The subsidiary in Colombia of the US firm found a favorable performance, not only due to tax collection, but also due to the reorganization and reduction of liabilities, a decreasing indebtedness, the strengthening of the quality of financial reports and greater stability in the district administration. .
“If Cartagena’s fiscal performance continues to reflect the good results observed at the end of 2022, the metrics could be even better positioned,” reported Fitch Ratings.
The agency, however, is cautious “before considering a rating upgrade” due to the financial behavior of the city, due to the change of administration next January.
Beyond this solid management, recognized by Fitch Ratings, the incorporation represents a major challenge for Dau’s administration, because in its three and a half years it has had execution problems; in part, due to the mayor’s lack of experience in public affairs and the high turnover of district officials. Due to these government characteristics, recent contracting has been more routine than mega-projects.
The execution challenge will increase due to the Guarantees Law, in force since June 29, which restricts public procurement processes in Colombia, ahead of the regional elections on October 29.
The Contratopedia Caribe reviewed the Agreement for the incorporation of almost half a billion pesos approved by the Council, on May 20, and made a graphic story about the distribution of those resources. Browse it here:
*Co-founder of the Caribbean Contratopedia.
2023-05-29 09:28:11
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