The director of the Huila Family Compensation Fund, Juan Carlos Carvajal, reports an “encouraging” end of 2023 for the entity. He says, however, that the debts left by the EPS continue to be the ‘bogeyman’. He announces his great goal for the new year: the lifting of Comfamiliar’s intervention measure, which will allow the election of directors and a new director.
Jesus Antonio Rojas Serrano
For the first time since it was intervened, the Huila Family Compensation Fund presents positive assets. This is stated by the director of the entity, Juan Carlos Carvajal, when taking stock of the year that is ending and setting the projections for 2024.
What is the reality today of the Huila Family Compensation Fund?
Exactly, I took office on November 4, 2022. Today, we have a very encouraging financial outlook. It is totally different from the panorama with which we found it a year ago upon our arrival. A year ago, the Family Compensation Fund had negative equity; was -$23.2 billion. Today, as of October 30, the Fund has positive equity. And it is positive at $3,545 million. This means that at the end of this month of December, the positive equity will increase. Since the Fund is intervened, an improvement plan must be carried out; We had a corporate savings goal of 20% with the purpose of stabilizing the entity’s finances. And this savings has been higher and in some months has reached 29%. Between October 2022 and October 2023, we achieved corporate savings of $17,389 million, through personnel expense accounts, services, fees, leases and travel expenses. All this means that we have tightened the belt, taking measures that represent significant savings, but without affecting Comfamiliar’s mission. Despite these savings, we continue to provide subsidies, including for greater coverage. The balance is positive, despite all the vicissitudes. We also have a renewed image and we are making a presence in a large part of Huila. We have achieved recognition of the region.
Has the Fund been saved and will no longer be liquidated?
Jesús Antonio, that is the purpose we are working on. Today, we still have a ‘bogeyman’ that haunts us and it is the debts of the health program. We are finishing the process of rating and grading credits. We must not forget that debts for more than $700,000 million were filed. We hope that in January of the new year we will have the qualification and grading of debts ready to notify those creditors; We hope that the value of the debts could be at a much lower value. That is the only difficulty we have that does not let us sleep peacefully. We are working on different alternatives so that they can be promoted through bills in the Congress of the Republic. We are seeking, for example, to enter into 10-year liability restructuring agreements. The Fund continues to work and will continue to work. What we have is a Box that is emerging from the difficulties it has been going through and looking beyond the horizon. After all this, the Caja as a company will emerge stronger.
Let’s talk about the projects, what has happened to the housing plans?
We already have a contract for the construction of 50 homes of priority interest in the municipality of Gigante; The project will be called Villa Claudia; The idea is that on December 21st we will prepare the commencement of works document; This contract is already signed and we are in the policies and other procedures. In the municipality of Garzón, we signed a contract for the construction of 54 homes of priority interest; The project is going to be called Los Arrayanes; We hope that the works will also begin on December 21. These are projects that we hope will be executed very quickly so that in a period of no more than 6 months we can deliver these housing units to the beneficiaries. Likewise, in Garzón, we have two towers in the contracting process; The project will be called Torres Comfamiliar; There are 40 social interest apartments; Its execution should begin late in the month of January.
And what is there for Neiva?
At the Huila Family Compensation Fund they had been working for many years on a project that they called La Felicidad at the time. To be honest, when I arrived, I found a lot in the name of the Compensation Fund in the El Tesoro sector and they were working on the designs and the budget. I took up that project that was stalled and we updated it. Today, I can tell you with certainty that we already have a signed contract for the execution of 320 units of social interest apartments. This project will be executed by a firm from Huila; 112 social interest houses will also be built. It is very important to make something clear to the public: people from Huila are being hired here. Sometimes, it is more about wanting to damage management with wrong information. Jesús Antonio, with calmness and looking him in the eyes, I can tell you that those works that are going to be carried out will be carried out by purely Huila companies. In this I have been vehement with the Caja’s work team so that we prioritize companies in the region. The fairest thing is that the money from these works circulates in the region and serves to boost the economy of Neiva and the department. In addition to that project, in Neiva, we are managing the Bosques de San Luis macroproject in its final phase. This is a project in which the Government of Huila and the Mayor’s Office of Neiva participate and in which the construction of 740 apartments is planned.
In terms of recreation, what has been done?
Upon my arrival, I found an awarded, but unexecuted, contract related to a shuffleboard court complex at Club Los Lagos. We managed to reactivate it and it is now at the service of the affiliated population. We also decided to also project the installation of the Jumping Park in Los Lagos, an attraction that will allow children and the general population to have a place for recreation; We are going to adapt infrastructure so that the children of our members can go to celebrate their birthdays; This project is already underway and we hope to deliver it to the service in the first two months of 2024. Additionally, both at the club and at the Los Lagos school we are working on an energy transition project, executed by the Huila company SunnyApp; We hope to save about $25,000 million in 20 years; The Los Lagos Club has been paying around $80 million per month for energy service and we saw that it is a positive project for the finances of the Fund in the medium and long term. More things will come for Los Lagos; We are thinking that in the medium term it is essential that the club have a hotel; We hope in 2024 to begin executing the designs so that it can give us a definitive budget and prioritize that investment.
How is Playa Juncal, one of Comfamiliar’s leading recreational centers, going?
In Playa Juncal we have made several investments this year with the purpose of improving the physical infrastructure; We have maintained the slides and the metalwork, as well as the cabins themselves. We are close to receiving the designs for what will be a new hotel in Playa Juncal. Once we have the final designs, we will be able to make the decision to prioritize the investment. Currently, there are some cabins that are a bit obsolete and do not provide the best service. My motto is that our members, regardless of category, have quality service so that they feel like they are in a five-star hotel. We are aiming for that so that more people visit us at our recreational centers.
What has happened to the recreational center for Pitalito and southern Huila?
We have been working on this project all this year. It is the new Macizo del Encanto recreational center, that’s what it will be called. Jesús Antonio, I can confirm that on December 26 in Pitalito the Mayor has not stated that that day he will formally deliver the construction license to us. With this, we will be able to continue advancing in the project, this means that it will be the culmination of the studies and designs in details to begin the contracting process. We hope that in the first two months of 2024 we will begin the construction of this recreational center. Pitalito is a development hub and this infrastructure will provide services to our members in the center and south of Huila, as well as the population of Putumayo, Caquetá and Cauca. We hope that this project will generate a lot of development in the south of the country. It is a great bet that we have in the Huila Family Compensation Fund, even though we know that there are people who do not want these projects to go ahead. Here we are putting our chests to the breeze because nothing and no one is going to stop us in our management as long as my God has us in this position. My commitment to the department remains intact as it has since the first day I arrived in this region.
What will happen to the Huila Family Compensation Fund in 2024?
We are aiming to complete the liquidation process of the EPS and prepare the legal strategy to defend the assets of the Family Compensation Fund. While I am here, with the tools that the law gives me, I will defend the assets of the entity at all costs because in the end it is the assets of the workers. This is an institution that is very loved by the region. Once the liquidation process is completed, the improvement plan that is reported to the Family Subsidy Superintendence must be completed at the same time. Jesús Antonio, this plan will allow the Superintendency to lift the Caja’s intervention measure at the end of both processes. And once the intervention is lifted, an ordinary assembly will be called to elect the new directors and they will be the ones to designate the new administrative director of Comfamiliar del Huila. This is how we have planned it. In 2024, the intervention of the Huila Family Compensation Fund must be lifted. I am aiming for this intervention to be lifted in the first half of the new year. That’s where I’m focusing my efforts.
