Petro also used public resources to pay TransMilenio operators: city councilor Sarmiento

This July 24 and after the controversy that erupted due to the financial situation of TransMilenio which requires additional resources for more than one trillion pesos for this year, the senator and former mayor of Bogotá, Gustavo Petro, decided to criticize the response of the administration Claudia López to use the resources of social programs to solve the deficit of the transport system.

Petro’s criticism came from a trill written by Dignity Advisor Manuel Sarmiento, who pointed out that, “The social rescue project presented to the Council adds some means to programs that have a positive impact, but it does not correspond to the mayor’s announcements in May”.

To which Petro replied: “When the transmilenio operation is subsidized with public money, it must result in a reduction in the user tariff because the subsidy can only be for the user. When the fare does not drop, the subsidy is for the owner of the buses “.

And I add: “If the operation of the red transmilenio buses must henceforth be paid by the district, due to the decrease in the number of users, it is preferable to discuss whether the operation should not be in the public domain”.

Faced with these criticisms, Councilor Sarmiento reminded Petro that he also maintains contracts with the private TransMilenio. “The part of the subsidy that ends up remunerating the operator’s profitability does not depend on the tariff. It depends on the contracts, the same ones that you extended by paying the profitability of old buses as if they were new. Part of their subsidies went to operators “, he stressed.

And he concluded by saying that what bothers Senator Petro is that he is reminded that he has also used public resources for the transportation system.

“Gustavo Petro is annoyed to remember that he also allocated public resources to pay for the profitability of the private operators of Transmilenio. Instead of changing his model, he extended the contracts, and now he is proposing an absurd theory to be wrong and justify himself “, a comment shared by the mayor of Bogotá.

The controversial issue began after TransMilenio issued an alarming statement that its financial deficit is in the red, so it only has the resources to operate until September of this year. “The system has requested an addition of resources for the remainder of 2021 worth $ 1.25 trillion. Without this money, it would only have the means to operate until the end of August, so the service would be suspended in September “, they assured.

Councilors from the opposition benches have dismissed mayor Claudia López as assuring that if the social rescue project is not approved, the TransMilenio system should shut down.

“Claudia López, you cheated on Bogotá. His social rescue was an emergency rescue for Transmilenio. It is irresponsible of him to say that on August 15 the operation will be stopped if we do not approve the 1.1 billion he is asking for. Why haven’t you done anything before?, Councilor Susana Muhamad assured.

For her part, lobbyist Ana Teresa Bernal said that, “Investing money in the Transmilenio deficit is not a“ social rescue ”. The organic statute of the Btá, article 32, establishes the definition of “social public expenditure” as indicated in article 41 of Dec. Nal 111/96, which literally defines what investment is “.

According to the TransMilenio press release, for 2019, the tariff differential between tariff revenue and the actual operating cost was 892 billion pesos. On the other hand, for 2020, it was expected, under normal conditions and according to the studies presented, that the rate differential would amount to $ 1.1 trillion pesos, which were approved at the time by the CONFIS District.

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