Portfolio overflowed? Doubts in public execution

in brief

The Office of the Comptroller drew attention because the resources allocated by the state for subsidies and royalties would be deficient in their effectiveness. Analysts believe that they would not be viable.

In less than three months, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic has made two echoes of the government for the way it has used its resources for the benefit of Colombians.

The opportunity was presented on May 3, when the controller, Edgardo Maya Villazón, reported that 40% of the works financed with royalties, between 2015 and 2017 in all the country, remained unfinished, abandoned or finished but not used. That is, they became white elephants.

The second was two weeks ago. On July 5, the same official badured that public spending on state subsidies in 2017 was equivalent to the same tax collection that year.

In preview of a study that is not yet over, Maya he planned that in 2017, 118.5 billion pesos were allocated to support subsidies of different types . The figure exceeds 115.1 billion tax perceptions for the national economic activity reported by the Directorate of Taxes and Customs, Dian.

"There are failures not only in the same execution but also in the mechanisms designed to deliver the subsidies, the control that must be exercised by those responsible for the execution of the various programs and the expenditure of computers questioned by corruption, "badured the controller EL COLOMBIANO (see interview).

Although the National Planning Department, DNP, protested subsidy expenditure represents 72 trillion pesos, it is still a considerably high amount, which reaches 9% of gross domestic product, GDP, of the country.

Apart from the discussion on how the accounts were made, in the air remains the doubt of whether the wallet of the The state has helped to ensure that social goals throughout the country are covered at a reasonable cost and the distribution of income to generate equity

All the more so as the absence of the state was u A factor that social organizations put forward to explain the phenomena of poverty and violence in FARC-dominated sectors before the signing of the Peace Agreement. The social crisis constantly denounced in the Catatumbo and the Chocó are just two examples

Last week again, social organizations such as the Interethnic Forum Solidaridad Chocó, the Standing Round Table of Dialogue and "Social Affairs". agreement of the indigenous peoples of Chocó, the dioceses of Apartadó, Istmina-Tadó and Quibdó denounced that the lack of institutionality in the department left the community at the mercy of the guerrillas of the ELN and criminal gangs.

It should be noted that the country's entry into the Organization Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will require that the investment you make helps society overcome its problems and not just to face.

According to information provided by the DNP, the 72 billion pesos are intended for a total of 62 programs scattered throughout the government. The best known families are Families in Action, Youth in Action and Great Colombia.

Since 2010, with the arrival of Juan Manuel Santos the amount of subsidies granted in the country has been According to the DNP, education and pensions are the positions in which one has invested the most.

However, indicators in terms of reducing the social gap and inequality show that there are 26 9% of the population considered poor, 7.4% are clbadified in extreme poverty and 65% of the rural population lives in poverty, according to the Dane.

Apart from this, a report released this year by the Latin American Center for Rural Development revealed that Colombia is one of the countries with the largest social gap between regions, just behind the Mexico and Guatemala. This means that there is an increasing distance of well-being between prosperous departments (Antioquia) and others with weaknesses (La Guajira).

For Gilberto Toro Director of the Federation of Colombian Municipalities, The persistence of regional disparities in basic social services reveals serious problems in the efficiency of spending that subsidizes the health system, for example, or access to drinking water, since two typical municipal jurisdictions are mentioned. "

For Toro, the problem is that these subsidies were designed" homogeneously "from Bogota, and thus" regardless of geographical differences. The next government must urgently tackle a constitutional and legal reform of the system of general participation, with which these sectors are justified in a significant way. "

He added that this reform should broaden the margin of autonomy over the expenditures financed," so that resources are better adapted to local realities and characteristics and therefore more effective. "

In its defense, the government has argued that none of the poverty indicators have reported any setbacks in recent years – eight years.

The figures expressed in terms of grants respond to a speech very close to the line of the World Bank, according to which the best investment for development is the infrastructure, added to the presence of the State, which would be a social investment. 19659005] This was explained Jorge Iván Cuervo Researcher of the Center for Research and Special Projects of the Externado University: "With a grant, people do not starve, but it does not exist. there is no social mobility either. This means that in 10 years, people will continue to receive from the state, but there will be more jobs and everything will remain in them, "he said.

For Cuervo, a policy based on the subsidization of life does not solve the problem and gives way to corruption

This idea is shown in cases such as Tauramena, Casanare.In this population of 22 000 inhabitants, Office of the Comptroller General has detected a white elephant in the construction of its aqueduct, which does not provide drinking water and cost 17 248 million pesos to the cash

"In this case, the subsidies of Familias in Acción they arrive, but it does not help to overcome poverty if people do not have clean water. "

For his part, the Controller Maya Villazón warned that" given the possible decline in income, the rigidity of a large part of the expenses and that additional resources will be needed for the future. conflict, it is necessary to protect the resources allocated to public social expenditures so that they are progressive and effective. It is necessary to identify the expense that does not meet these requirements to make the relevant corrections. Public policies that promote values ​​and ethical behavior at all levels of society are also needed to achieve equitable development. "

Between 2015 and 2017, the Comptroller General conducted a general scan of the work supported by the royalties in order to prepare the report supporting an apparent weakness in the execution of these resources.

During these two years, 62 works were identified throughout the country cataloged as "white elephants". There are 336 billion pesos that would have been spent on that.

When looking at where these buildings are located, the Meta department stands out, with 32 of these results. It is followed by Casanare (8), Huila (7), Boyacá, Córdoba, Chocó, Sucre, Valle del Cauca (two each), and Arauca, Caquetá, Cauca, Caesar and Vichada (one).

General of Royalties, the Ocad (organ that makes resources viable) has become a talanquera and does not meet the goal of ensuring transparency, because it happens that prior agreements are concluded to select priority projects, "he badured. the controller

By 2018, there are still no conclusions that can be accurately considered as white elephants, but the Office of the Controller has identified 30 projects that risk being . In these last, 182.736 million pesos of the Nation are engaged.

It's not just the fact that they have not been able to see the basic work for the well-being of a community, such as, for example, the work of the drinking water treatment plant in the municipality of Arauca, where more than 10 billion pesos would have been lost, but various social actors have denounced that this resulted in a lack of guarantees in the role of l & rsquo; State in some areas.

Therefore, Cuervo points out that the inevitable path is leading Colombia to rethink all of its policy of grants and works, so that there is better control without falling into centralism and that they are protected over time, so that there are no related interests. to corruption changes in local governments.