The controversial Javier Lastra, who has been the manager of Afinia since August 2021, assures that he is not aware of any complaints of alleged corruption around his company’s millionaire contracts and that the goals that were formulated from the beginning of the company are achievable, although they also depend on external factors.
How do you explain that the rate of losses on the Coast is higher today than before Afinia?
“The year 2021 was very complex. When I arrived, the conditions of the economy had been recovering a little, but in the first half of the year there were roadblocks, freight and import problems; there is a problem that still persists, which is the labor shortage of electrical technicians and engineers, so instead of reducing one point, which was the goal”.
They just had their loss management plan disapproved, what to say regarding that?
“Yes, but in relation to last year, because the plan is ongoing and there are 9 years left.”
Your firm has not been able to lower energy losses at all in two years, and now, in one, it should reach 23.14%. How will you do it?
“This year the loss control indicator is 0.6% and to the extent that this indicator progresses, energy is progressively increasing and the trend would indicate that by 2023, with the planned investment plans, with the measures and with network shields, the intention is to reach that indicator of 23.14%”.
Is that goal realistic?
“Obviously there are external factors, some of public order, lack of labor and that the region was not prepared to assume the robust investment plan that EPM has, but this time has allowed us to enter into a dynamic of acceleration of investments . Since my arrival we have advanced regarding 110 hiring processes and from March of last year to August there were 30; we have achieved a very important dynamic and with that Colombian and some international companies are already showing interest in participating in our calls”.
How is the investment plan going?
For this year we have a budget of one trillion 65 billion pesos, achieving maximum execution starting in the second semester. Up to now there are almost $140,000 million and last year it was $543,000 million, a figure that had never been seen in the old operator in the seven departments. And from October to December 2020, 80,000 million were invested, that is, $623,000 million cut to 2021. .
But there are complaints that hiring is slow.
“I invite you to consult the contracting page to see the processes that have been uploaded from Caribe Mar de la Costa SA (that is the company’s corporate name; the brand is Afinia) and the executions. There are more than 110 processes. An important dynamic has been taken. The times in which a process starts and closes are some less than two months, when before they lasted up to 8 months”.
So why the perception in the sector, that there are many contests that are declared void, of delays in the arrival of supplies and delays in executions?
“These technical businesses cannot be managed by perceptions but by figures and results. For example, someone may say that their service is interrupted more than before, but official data shows that we have reduced the average hours of interruption from 122 to 89. Of 110 contests, only one has been declared void.
Official figures speak of not being fulfilled in investment for loss management.
“This year there are $450,000 million budgeted for loss management. For all these projects there is a diversity of materials such as cables or poles; then, since the investments in the old company did not exceed $77,000 million and here we are talking regarding investments of one billion pesos, when the company used to ask a supplier for 500 poles every six months, now it asks for 8,000 monthly poles and the capacity to response will not be instant; that can generate some delays, but the companies are preparing their production capacity”.
Another concern regarding hiring refers to the specifications, which include a factor that speaks of experience in the area itself, a requirement that does not appear in the hiring of EPM or the sector and might leave out traditional companies that are from the inside the country.
“With these conditions, a little more than 30 interested parties presented themselves and only 3 have argued that and those who did not present objections are not necessarily from the Coast. In addition, it is not that it leaves them out, but rather that some considerations must be taken for the execution of projects in the region, because it is not the same to manage distribution in densified cities such as Medellín, Bogotá, Cali, Barranquilla, than a company like Afinia that has 134 municipalities with distances, with a greater infrastructure in networks, complex geographic situations of floods and very different conditions. In addition, the 20% score was reassessed and remained at 10%”.
If the price is lowered to upgrade it to this other item, doesn’t it generate an overhead for users?
“That requirement will not enable them, it turns out that in this exercise there are 3 left out and 27 enabled. What is the problem? Everyone can enter and there are other weighting requirements where they might have a greater advantage; I cannot be thinking of a particular company”.
Another controversial issue is the advisers with high fees and charges. How many?
“There is no one temporarily linked who exceeds the scales allowed in the salary structure. Even the majority are below up to 40% of what a similar profile can earn. They are competent people who have come to support the management, but we speak from three to four and we need more”.
Does EPM not have enough experts to support it?
“Yes, it has a lot of professionals who work from there, they accompany us in the committees, in concepts, in the criteria we need, and additionally we have delegates from the matrix that EPM sends us here, and we rely on several people who They came from the old company.
Exactly, they are people who came with you from a past that everyone wants to forget (that of Electricaribe).
“About 1,100 people come from the old company, some went to Air-e and others are here.”
How much do they earn?
“19,500,000 pesos for fees and a high-level manager is above 30 million pesos in Afinia.
If the issue is so simple, why did you refuse to answer it in a right of petition made by the All for Medellin watchdog?
“Because they ask for resumes and these are confidential, but the salaries and profiles are adequate for the needs of the company.”
In the union they say that you dismantled the human talent area and gave that management to Charles Chapman’s firm, who worked with you at Electricaribe.
“It is not true, Chapman is not linked to the company, he was an advisor appointed by the Superintendence at the time in Electricaribe’s intervention; I met him there, but at this moment neither he nor his firm are linked to Afinia; I haven’t seen him for more than three years.”
A letter came to the board warning regarding a possible mafia to control hiring, what measures were taken to counteract that warning?
“I don’t know what letter you’re talking regarding, I don’t know it. Afinia is the most important project that exists for the parent company (Grupo EPM) next to Hidroituango, and regarding that I have not a millimeter of insecurity regarding the support that the parent company is giving us”