Government hurries the master plan to which the company should adjust to a $ 2,800 million investment, according to LA NACION newspaper. The plan would target to balance the number of running water users with the number of those who have sewer service.
“There are two thousand water users more than sewer users, and this first measure is focused to balance this difference”, said a source who knows the plan elaborated by the company which is at the government desk since August.
Another concept in the announcement is the controversial subject about who will carry out the work. “This was one of the key subjects for the outing of “Aguas Argentinas”. Frenchmen did not want to leave the works at Buenos Aires mayors´ hands”, [intendentes] declared an area consultant who took part in the contract discharge.
Now, the works will be supervised by AySA, but will be built by “Agua más Trabajo” [social program]. This regime establishes that ENHOSA [National Entity of Hydraulic and Sanitation Works] be in charge of coordinating network extension works, and local municipal authorities will start it. Finally, the employees of the co-operatives will carry out the work.
According to ENHOSA´s project, budget 2007, the program “Agua Más Trabajo” will try to insert unemployed and plan “Jefas y Jefes de Hogar” beneficiaries [Program for the Unemployed] into the labour market.
According to this project, ENHOSA will make use of $ 432 million, 278 millions of which are appointed to investment, next year. The rest of the amount to enlarge the network will be provided by the Government, which will subsidy the cost of the work, except for the zones with higher resources, such as “countries” [private neighbourhood]
“What do you want me to tell you – the sector analyst told LA NACION - .There is a great desire to cut works ribbons during electoral year.”
Next announcement
Thought the announcement has no certain date, it is said that it will take place on the following days. AySA has neither legal frame nor obligation to invest within certain term, to be controlled or enacted if gets in breach of contract. In times of Aguas Argentinas, the company had to adjust to the grant contract by means of which the exploitation of service was granted. “There is no hint of that contract, therefore it is essential to have a regulatory framework to know which obligations the company has and which the Tripartite Entity of Sanitation Works and Services” [Spanish acronym ETOSS], stated an attorney specialized in public services.
“AySA devoted these 6 months to keep the service. Now it is expansion time”, said a government source.
During the last months, the company filed a great deal of complaints for bad service. AySA insists on explaining that complaints are not related to the service itself, but to pending work after fixing jobs, such as sidewalks´ repair. The company explains that they are negotiating contracts with third-party companies in charge of these jobs.
But there is one more problem against supplier’s normalization. It is a legal conflict between UOCRA [Building Workers Union], led by Gerardo Martinez and OS leader José Luis Lingieri [Sanitation Workers Union]. While the former claims his trade union protects third-party company’s workers, the latter, who is also AySA director, wants the worker to be framed in the Collective Sanitation Workers Agreement.
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