Lula prepares new PAC to launch until the 100th day of government

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) must present, by the ceremony of his 100th day in office, a public investment plan to try to encourage economic activity. The list, in this initial phase, will include the resumption of works that are stopped or that are at a slow pace.

But the Planalto Palace also wants to publicize projects to be contracted, such as new undertakings of Minha Casa, Minha Vida, in addition to the construction of cisterns and acceleration of highway maintenance services.

The investment plan will be part of a broader program of government goals, which will be led by the Civil House.

The idea is that minister Rui Costa and executive secretary, Miriam Belchior, monitor the progress of priority projects.

In the area of ​​infrastructure, the government wants to launch an investment plan along the lines of the former PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), with project targets to be resumed or contracted and also with the respective completion forecasts.

With the official name still under discussion, the new PAC —as it is informally called in the government— will be part of a larger program of goals that will include other topics in addition to infrastructure works. Among them, combating hunger and poverty, reducing the queue for surgeries at the SUS (Unified Health System) and expanding scholarships.

THE SheetMiriam said that the elaboration of some of the priorities for the first hundred days “are already in full swing for the president to announce”.

The expansion of public investments does not depend on congressional approval. The only exception is the recreation of Minha Casa, Minha Vida. But, as it will be by MP (provisional measure), Lula will be able to start even before the vote in the Legislative.

In addition, the housing program already has resources reserved in the Budget. That’s about BRL 9.5 billion in 2023 – almost eight times the BRL 1.2 billion for Casa Verde e Amarela last year.

The government wants to complete the redesign of the new Minha Casa, Minha Vida by mid-February and hopes to resume new contracting of projects this year.

“We are going to resume what has been stopped, but also start contracting new works in track 1 [segmento do programa que atende aos mais pobres]which corresponds to 75% of the Brazilian housing deficit”, said the executive secretary of the Civil House.

In the case of the cistern construction program, there is around BRL 500 million for 2023 – an increase of approximately 22 times compared to last year (when it was BRL 22 million).

Lula defends accelerating these works because he foresees two effects: they boost the country’s growth and help fight poverty. The management of cistern works and access to water in the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) is highly criticized by PT members.

For road maintenance work, the Lula government has about R$8 billion – almost three times the R$2.8 billion estimated in previous years.

The investment plan should also bring projects to be executed through PPPs (public-private partnerships), in addition to concessions.

The monitoring of the goals of the new PAC –and of all other priority programs of the president, such as Bolsa Família– will be done especially by Miriam and by the deputy head of the Special Secretariat for Coordination and Monitoring of the portfolio, Maurício Muniz.

In addition to monitoring, the Civil House technicians should also participate in discussions to define their own goals. This includes, for example, the number of families served by the new Bolsa Família, the reduction in the SUS queue, etc.

The government intends to present these balance sheets to show how Lula’s promises are progressing.

The target plan does not provide for a penalty for ministries that fail to meet targets. The function of Muniz’s team will be to control the execution of the works and public policies and, if necessary, the goals can be changed. “We need to identify the nodes before the deadline,” Miriam said.

The Ministry of Planning, led by Simone Tebet, also has an area for evaluating public policies. However, Miriam stated that there will be no clash between the two folders.

“The Civil House will take care of what is a priority for the president. It will not be in charge of everything. [Ministério do] Planning will look at everything in the PPA [Plano Plurianual], carries out an annual evaluation of it and all government programs. but our function [na Casa Civil] is to take care of a smaller number of projects, to follow up more closely, closer to equating problems and guaranteeing results”, said the executive secretary.