During the political control debate that took place this Monday in the Bogota Council about him San Juan de Dios Hospital It transpired that the district administration is seriously considering the possibility of declaring the nullity of the contract with the Spanish firm Copasa.
An official source told EL TIEMPO that “as we are going, we are going for expiration” because, as he explained, “there are a series of breaches” on the part of the contractor.
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In fact, The Secretary of Health, Alejandro Gómez, assured during the debate that 10 days ago he wrote to the Minister of Culture asking her to inform him whether or not the central tower of San Juan de Dios can be demolishedand that he still does not know the decision.
“If he says no, you would have to proceed in contractual matters with Copasa. If yes, we continue with the issue of filing it (the project) again with the Ministry of Culture,” added the Secretary.
EL TIEMPO also learned that councilman Oscar Ramírez Vahos has information that would confirm that the Mayor’s Office is analyzing the possibility of declaring the expiration of the contract with Copasa.
When contacted by this newspaper, Ramírez did not distort that information. On the contrary, he assured that he will present it in the continuation of the debate and that there he will present
the arguments that are being studied by the mayor’s office to proceed against the million-dollar contract.
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same source as reported unofficially that the mayor’s office is evaluating the possibility of declaring expiration, denied what was stated during the debate in the Council by the lobbyist José Cuesta, of the Historical Pact. Cuesta had indicated that in the dialogues between the government of President Gustavo Petro and the Bogotá Mayor’s Office there was an agreement that the entire hospital complex should be recovered and that the resources destined for demolition be reallocated to the recovery of the complex.
“I can assure you. There is an agreement that the central tower is going to be restored. The issue of what the District is going to do with Copasa remains pending,” Cuesta told EL TIEMPO. He explained that the objective of the agreement is to recover the entire complex, “that is, 24 buildings in the complex, including the central tower, which is the tower of discord”.
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He added that this agreement was made within the framework of the conversations that the president has had with the Mayor’s Office.
However, the lobbyist pointed out that the issue that must be looked at now is what is done with the contract with Copasa and that for this he is proposing that “an accidental commission be created to find a way out of the current contract with Copasa.” According to Cuesta, the national government, the Bogotá Mayor’s Office and the contractor must participate in said commission.
According to him health Secretarythe contract with the Spanish firm is worth 466,000 million pesos and the audit for 4,918 million.
Of that money, 69.986 million pesos have been transferred to the Central East Health Subnet, which is administered by San Juan de Dios. And of those, 66,137 were transferred to the Trust that was created to manage the resources.
However, according to Alejandro Gomez, only drafts for 8,315 million have been approved for Copasa and for 5,308 million pesos for the audit. In taxes 3,849 million were paid.
GUILLERMO REINOSO RODRIGUEZ
editor from Bogotá
And Twitter: @guirei24