The loan negotiated by the Municipality of Montevideo with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to carry out sanitation and drainage works throughout the capital, has hit the wall on several occasions that ended up being materialized in a refusal to vote by the councilors and edilas of the multicolored coalition, who announced through Laura Raffo that “they will not accompany” as it is written.
The herrerista mayor, Adriana Balcarcel, said that “it is not a drama to renegotiate” and told the IM that “if you have to renegotiate, you must renegotiate. I don’t see how bad it can be ”.
The mayor has until February 17, 2022 for the Departmental Board to approve the loan of US $ 70 million, but everything indicates that the coalitionists will block it in its current form and would force the Carolina Cosse administration to sit down again. the table together with the IDB in Washington.
Cosse had sent a letter to the nationalist councilors committing to carry out sanitation and drainage works for three neighborhoods using their own funds. “We agree on the importance of these infrastructure works for the population of Montevideo. We also consider it relevant that the execution of the sanitation projects and the comprehensive cleaning plan included in the Urban Sanitation Program of Montevideo, already approved by the IDB, begins, ”the letter said.
The president of the Montevideo Department of the National Party, Laura Raffo (who is not a mayor), was in charge of communicating to Cosse and his government that they will not follow the path outlined for the loan to be approved, since the letter of the mayor “did not contemplate” requests that the legislators had made.
“Our councilors had asked to guarantee the arrival of sanitation to all those populations that are waiting for it (he listed 13 neighborhoods of the capital) for so many years and, as traditionally has been done for more than 30 years, vote on the IDB loan to guarantee infrastructure works in the city, “Raffo said at a press conference on Monday.
Do not accompany
The coalitionists assure that they “have a deep interest” in solving the problems of the capital’s most vulnerable populations, but they assure that the IM project does not contemplate cleaning up three particular neighborhoods that need special attention. “You will see it at the working table of the coalition with the Colorado Party and the People’s Party, which was formed yesterday and it would be hasty on our part to give an answer without holding the second working meeting of the coalition to which we respect a lot and we believe that it is a great milestone that has been conformed in Montevideo ”, added Raffo.
The white mayor, Diego Rodríguez, posted on Twitter that they are “willing to negotiate with the commune authorities so that more resources are allocated to Sanitation.” Another mayor, Rafael Seijas, reported that representatives were appointed who will dialogue with the Cosse government.
