in 2022 joint venture and the Ministry of Defense signed a cooperation framework agreementto facilitate the articulation of actions that, based on reasons of convenience, good administration and economy of the assigned means, result in the optimization of available human and material resources.
The representative of the National Party in the Board of UTE, Philip Algortatold the program Who is Who of Diamante FM and Channel 5, that now a specific agreement is being signed, so that the National Army collaborates in tasks such as pruning trees in areas close to power lines in rural areas, placing poles and even monitoring properties, among other tasks.
The electric company has a network of 95 thousand kilometers throughout the country. The lack of pruning, according to Algorta, is what explains 80% of the micro-cuts in rural areas. Micro power outages are those that do not last more than three minutes, but generate significant distortions in productive activities.
What would the Army do?
According to the manager, The idea is that the Army “be available” to UTE “as one more company that hires” the entity. “It would be adding more people to attend to the issue of pruning, which is really an issue that generates problems in the service,” he said. The public company would pay the Ministry of Defense for the service and then the ministry would pay the staff for the work performed.
“If military personnel often go abroad on missions to try to improve their income, this is an opportunity for them to improve them, and it is within the State itself. And it is a possibility to improve the service to the people. (…) Military personnel are trained. I see it as a win-win,” he said.
trees near cables
Algorta pointed out that an information campaign will soon begin at the national level regarding the need for private property owners tocarry out pruning, and the inconvenience of planting trees close to electrical networks.
“In private properties it is the private ones who have to do the pruning. Many times people plant in the strip where the lines are, and that is a problem. Then UTE has to pay for them to be cut off when a private party would have to. We are working with our legal area to give it more strength, and whoever is going to plant below a line thinks twice, ”he said.
Algorta mentioned that they could be applied finesor charge private parties the amount that UTE must later invest to do pruning on properties where plantations are a problem for power lines.
