Governor Aníbal Gaviria recounted this week that he had never seen in 15 non-consecutive years as a member of the Metro board —as governor between 2004 and 2007 and between 2020 and 2022; and as mayor between 2012 and 2015—, that a Medellín mayor’s office had to be sued for non-compliance in transfers to the company.
Of course, the $161,000 million debt with the Metro Rate Stabilization Fund, a breach that has already begun proceedings in the Antioquia Administrative Court, is not the only “snake” that Daniel Quintero’s Mayor’s Office has. To this is added $38,856 million that is owed to the construction of the Toyo Tunnel for the indexation of the periods 2021 and 2022 and the successive cinnamon turns to not certify the contribution of $800,000 million to which Medellín committed for the Tren del Río.
For connoisseurs of public revenues, this string of defaults does not fit a word other than disorder, because the Municipality, with its usual limitations, had always been well paid. “It is not ignorance, it is pure disorder and improvisation because these rents had been paid for more than five years,” said the source. And he added that if there is no defined and rigorous investment plan for public money, they will continue to use future periods to put out the fires, compromising the resources of the following municipalities.
Indeed, the Medellín Council approved this week future terms for $475,000 million to meet the $161,000 million debt that the Medellín Mayor’s Office has with the Rate Stabilization Fund (FET). He justified that he would allocate resources to sustain this fund until 2029, when the agreement signed in 2012 with the operators Masivo de Occidente and Sistema Alimentador Oriental for the operation of the feeders in Belén and Manrique ends.
The decision to allocate these resources was made unanimously by the 19 councilors, although some of them were repetitive in the atmosphere of mistrust that reigns with the current administration. However, they decided to vote in favor, pointing out that the main objective is to maintain the stability of the Metro as a benchmark entity in the metropolitan area.
Ch$38,856 million in transfers for the Toyo
The Council of Medellín approved in 2013 the commitment of future validity between 2015 and 2024 for $520,000 million of that year to contribute to the construction of the Toyo tunnel, a priority link so that the two 4G highways to Urabá could be connected. At the time, the joint financing of the Mayor’s Office and the Antioquia Governor’s Office was celebrated to unblock the mega-project that could not be included in any concession. Payments had been consigned without any setbacks until 2021. According to Governor Aníbal Gaviria, the Mayor’s Office owes $38,856 million to the project, which correspond to indexation for the periods 2021 and 2022. “We are seeing ourselves in the same situation as the Metro, if not we demand tomorrow we are going to be responsible for having defunded and with it having to stop the works, ”Gaviria warned.
$161,000 million for the metro system
On December 5, the Medellín Metro filed a lawsuit against the Medellín Mayor’s Office to pay it $161,000 million that it owes to the system’s Rate Stabilization Fund. Although it was common for transfers to be delayed relatively frequently, the Metro explained that it was part of the mechanics. However, the crisis caused by the pandemic slowed down the rate of transfers by the Quintero administration to the Metro.
This situation has the Metro between the ropes. The operators of bus routes 3 and 6, which operate in Belén and Aranjuez, activated an arbitration court that could be resolved adversely for the Metro in February. Just yesterday a lifeline seemed to arrive, after the Council approved future terms of $475,000 million to meet the debt of the Mayor with the Stabilization Fund.
$800,000 million for the River Train
The developer company Ferrocarril de Antioquia has been promoting since 2019 the construction of the section between Aguacatala and Barbosa, baptized in this region as Tren del Río, which is planned to be built parallel to Line A of the metro. There was an agreement for the region to make a ‘cow’ and certify that it will pay the 30% that corresponds to it, that is, $1.46 billion. The Nation would put 70%, about $3.32 billion. However, the project could not be filed with the National Government because the Medellín Mayor’s Office has yet to certify that it will pay its quota, some $800,000 million. The Government, the Metropolitan Area and the Metro have already delivered the letter that supports their contribution. “After Ituango came into operation, the mayor said that he was going to provide the resources, we hope that he will do so because that has delayed progress,” criticized Governor Gaviria.