The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will cancel the changes it would make in the ANA (National Water Agency), because there was a mistake in the publication of the norm, said this Tuesday (3) Gabriel Galípolo, executive secretary of the Ministry from the farm.
In an interview with GloboNews, Galípolo said that the changes were published by mistake and that their revocation will be published soon. Pressured by the interviewers, he did not give details about what had caused the error and stated that the Sanitation Framework should not be revoked.
Acts published on Sunday (1st), shortly after Lula’s inauguration, linked the ANA to two ministries and removed the agency’s attributions of editing norms on sanitation in the country.
The new Minister of Integration and Regional Development, Waldez Góes (PDT) said, also this Tuesday (3), that the government will assess whether to maintain the transfer of ANA to the environmental portfolio.
“It is a debate that we are having. As it was not well resolved, there are questions to be clarified, we will talk”, he said after taking office.
“When listening to the workers, collaborators of the ministry, there is a reading that Regional Development is the ideal place for ANA to stay”, he stated.
“There was a transition, there started to be problems, because it was divided. If you’re going to stay with Regional Development or the Environment. We need to organize a little, there was a certain confusion, but that’s normal, the government is starting.”
Under current rules, city halls and states are obliged to open competition —for public and private companies—for contracts for the provision of water, sewage and waste collection services. ANA can also mediate contracts in cities that do not have an agency dedicated to the subject.
For entities in the sanitation sector, the government sent mixed signals by signing the transfer of ANA to the Ministry of the Environment. In addition, Lula created the National Secretariat for Environmental Sanitation in the Ministry of Cities —which would define the rules for operating this market.
The measures taken by Lula did not bring significant changes in practice. But they raised suspicions that the new government might carry out the recommendations of the transition team for the sector.
As reported to Sheetthe report by the Transition Cities Working Group proposed the creation of a new legal framework, barring concessions or privatizations, and emptying the power of the ANA —whose functions related to basic sanitation would be transferred precisely to a National Secretariat for Environmental Sanitation (as the one created now).
In the interview, Galípolo said that the Lula government has no restrictions on partnerships with the private sector and that the question is not whether to do them or not, but how to set them up in order to generate more benefits for society. “I don’t see why this government wouldn’t support PPPs (public-private partnerships) and concessions, not least because the PPP law was created in the Lula government [em 2004]”, said.
“The question is: how am I going to hire the private sector? Concessions and PPPs bring benefits for the alignment of interests. The private sector is also responsible for the operation and maintenance of that asset, and will want it to have the best quality”, continued the secretary.
“When there is alignment, the private sector will not compromise quality, because it needs to keep the asset to be remunerated. In models where everything is hired for 8,666 [Lei de Licitações]the private can worsen the quality to lower the price”, he commented.
Still on sanitation, Galípolo said that the concession model adopted in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in which the government maintained control of some parts of the system and granted the operation of water distribution and sewage collection, was a good way to go. “Selling sanitation assets to clean up public finances seems like a mistake,” he defended.
Earlier this Tuesday, Haddad said that, in his first dispatch, he will present Lula with a flight plan with short, medium and long-term actions for the economic agenda of the new administration. In the interview, Galípolo said that there is still no date set for this to happen.
Regarding fuel price policies, the secretary said that it is necessary to wait for the new board of Petrobras to take office before debating the issue. “It would be frivolous to put something in before the new management sees the situation the company is in,” he said.
The secretary also defended that fiscal policy (public spending and tax collection) and monetary policy (which includes interest rates) should be thought out jointly and harmoniously, contrary to what has happened at various times in recent years, both in governments of left as well as right.
“The signs of what the government wants to do are quite clear. The ministry has been transparent about its intentions, such as the type of desired tax reform. But political forces will determine what will be possible to do,” he said.
Collaborated with Mateus Vargas
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