A month ago, the Municipality of Asunción summoned different public institutions to pay the debt they have with the commune for the garbage collection service. The total debt only for the garbage collection service amounts to G. 122,225,618,580, but the total delinquency of State agencies amounts to G. 199,372,324,280 for other concepts such as real estate taxes.
With the expiration of the term, the capital commune chose to suspend since yesterday the garbage collection service to highly sensitive institutions such as the Social Security Institute (IPS) and some administrative and academic dependencies of the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC).
Thus, during a press conference, the Chief of Staff Federico Mora reported that the forceful measure seeks a reaction from the delinquent entities so that they approach the Municipality to establish a “payment plan.”
“The institutions have the object of spending to deal with this service. We know that it is about having the will, we do not want as a municipality to enter into a bid, it is not about a tug of war. Here, the population of the capital is actually affected”, he maintained.
Along the same lines, Mora added that during the period only eight of the 20 delinquent institutions approached the Commune. The entities that specified a payment schedule or began the procedures to establish it are the Ministries of Public Health, Industry and Commerce, Agriculture and Urban Planning, Housing and Habitat.
However, among the institutions that have not approached, the chief of staff cited the Ministry of the Interior, the Social Welfare Institute, the Public Ministry, the Ministry of Public Works and Communications and others.
“BEEF UP”
HARVEST
IN NEIGHBORHOODS
In the midst of the deficient residential garbage collection service offered by the Municipality of Asunción, from the Municipal Executive they assured that while the delinquent entities are deprived of garbage collection, they will “seek” to reinforce the collection in other Asuncion neighborhoods.
“We are going to stop providing the service to these institutions and we would be directly reinforcing the citizens, the neighborhoods that generate the most waste. It is expected to have another frequency of the collection service, which we will be seeing in these days according to the circumstances that the administration informs us in relation to these institutions”, said Fernando Chávez, director of Aseo Urbano.
DEMANDING MEASURES MUST
ACCOMPANY WITH
INVESTMENT
For the councilor of Asunción for the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, Felix Ayala, it is a good sign that the commune is looking for mechanisms to improve municipal services. “The institutions cannot claim that the service provided by the Municipality is deficient to justify their lack of payment,” he said.
However, Ayala agreed that this step must be accompanied by a greater investment in equipment for Urban Cleaning.
“The Municipality needs a lot of investment. For years we have been saying that investment should mainly be made in urban sanitation. Precisely, by acquiring a greater quantity of machinery and implementing a slightly broader system of renting specific machinery”, he maintained.
