[ad_1]
The Bogotá Council approved this Wednesday night the budget project for 2021, which, due to its amount, is considered historic. The initiative, which is now approved by Mayor Claudia López, is for 23.9 billion pesos.
(Three women will preside over the Board of Directors of the Bogotá Council)
The main objective of the budget is to help the economic and social reactivation of the city. In fact, of the total resources that the District Administration will have in the next term, 20.1 billion will be for investment. In addition, according to the Ministry of Finance, 3.2 trillion will be allocated for operating expenses and 577.440 million for debt service.
Councilor María Clara Name (Alianza Verde), speaker coordinator, stressed that it is a “social project” and explains that more than 80 percent of investment resources are concentrated in the sectors of education, health, mobility, social integration and culture.
“The city has had an enormous social cost due to the pandemic and the reduction in more than 7 points of its gross domestic product (GDP), compared to the previous year, and with this the reactivation of the city and of the poorest is sought. and vulnerable, ”he said. The other two speakers were Rolando González (Radical Change) and Humberto Amín (Democratic Center).
(Budget of Bogotá for 2021 was approved in committee in the Council)
“This budget is the most important in the history of the city, for the moment it is lived,” insisted the councilor.
In this sense, the Secretary of Finance, Juan Mauricio Ramírez, has referred: “With these resources we will have the necessary tools to move the city forward, in its most difficult situation in the last century and prioritizing investments in economic reactivation and social rescue.”
The official stressed that he wants to “put economic growth back on a path towards a rate of 4 percent per year, as well as reduce unemployment and poverty to the levels they had before the covid-19 pandemic.”
One of the key aspects of the initiative are investments in infrastructure, civil works and buildings, for a total amount of 5.3 trillion pesos, which seek to reactivate the generation of employment, which was affected by the pandemic. It is estimated that more than a million jobs were lost due to the confinement. These investments would allow, according to the Ministry of Finance, to generate 69,000 jobs.
In total, according to the Treasury, the investments contemplated for 2021 add up to about 10 billion pesos and will generate approximately 120,000 jobs, which together with other projects that the different entities will carry out will allow the generation of at least 150,000 new jobs.
The project also authorizes the Mayor’s Office to contract loans for 3.14 billion pesos for the years 2022 and 2023. The largest resources from this source of financing will be assigned to the metro and the studies of the extension to Suba and Engativá; the TransMilenio trunk lines on avenues 68 and Ciudad de Cali –which were hired this year and will generate around 52,000 jobs–; the District Health Financial Fund; the Ministry of Education and the IDU.
(The Council approved Claudia López’s economic reactivation plan)
The District Administration will also carry out strategic projects such as the green corridor of the 7th race; the studies and designs of the San Cristóbal cable and the Medio Milenio bicycle route will be developed; the pre-feasibility of the Usaquén and Ciudad Bolívar (Potosí) cables –the one in the center has no resources–, and the feasibility to guarantee the urban insertion of the Regiotram de Occidente y Norte and the studies for Cerros Avenue.
There are also resources for the construction or completion of 11 schools and the creation of the Agency for Higher Education, which is expected to benefit about 5,000 young people with funding for access and permanence in higher education.
Another key investment will be in improving the infrastructure of hospitals, such as Kennedy, Meissen and Tunal, and in the construction of new complexes in the towns of Usme and Bosa, as well as to continue the San Juan de Dios. Similarly, through the Bogotá solidarity at home program, Basic Income Bogotá, more than 700,000 female-headed households will be reached.
The budget also allocates resources for research, diagnosis and treatment possibilities and vaccines against covid-19. This last concept was included during the debates in the district council.
Councilor Name stressed that during the discussions, greater resources were obtained (7,250 million pesos) for the District University, in order to increase the coverage of students, the teaching staff and consolidate the faculty of health sciences.
Additional money ($ 3,250 million) was also allocated to the Tourism Institute in order to support this sector, one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. And the Idartes will have 2.75 billion more.
And perhaps one of the most debated matters was the request for extra resources for the Comptroller’s Office and the Personería, which, finally, were approved. The first will receive 3,750 million and the second, 2,000 million more.
GUILLERMO REINOSO RODRÍGUEZ
Bogota Editor
@ Guirei24
To continue reading:
– This is the call to finance undergraduate studies in Bogotá
– Bogotá launches delivery model with cargo bikes
