This Thursday Transmetro will operate normally. This was confirmed by the concessionaires after learning that the national government approved the creation of a line of credit that allows territorial entities to co-finance the operation of the country’s seven mass transportation systems.
This mechanism guarantees the resources required by the mass transportation system of Barranquilla and its metropolitan area, Transmetro, to continue its operation in the midst of the health emergency.
The announcement was made after a four-hour virtual meeting attended by President Iván Duque, the Mayor of Barranquilla, Jaime Pumarejo; the Governor of the Atlantic, Elsa Noguera; the mayor of Soledad, Rodolfo Ucrós, and congressmen from the Atlantic bench.
The Minister of Transport, Angela María Orozco, explained that in work tables held with the Ministry of Finance, it was possible to identify how much all the massive systems would need until December, in order to make a more effective projection.
“You are right, for Barranquilla that shortfall is only 70 billion pesos, but in total, for all systems, it is 1.3 billion pesos. You had to work with several entities, a single one is not enough in terms of capacity. MinHacienda and its team structured a line of credit with Findeter; likewise with the Agrarian Bank ”, affirmed the official.
Orozco reported that the FOME board will meet to approve the contribution of these resources, so that the country’s mayors can go to Findeter and assume the debt.
He explained that the Government removed a battery of articles in the PND to give them more alternatives to the systems, which even allows the renegotiation of the contracts. The minister recalled that Transmetro was in that process and made several working tables, when the pandemic was declared by COVID-19. Through Decree 575 several measures were taken, among which is the reformulation of the PND, to temporarily eliminate the prohibition that the resources of the Nation that were in co-financing agreements be used for the operation.
The minister said that, according to information from the Board, this is going to be “the lowest interest rate that Findeter has taken out for a territorial entity. The delay was mainly due to the need to identify a solution for everyone and also how to make it operational so that the transfer was more efficient, ”he explained.
Orozco also informed the coastal congressmen that with a group of mobility experts and epidemiologists, the possibility of using the buses of the transport systems with a higher occupancy than the current 35% is being studied, without becoming a source of contagion. .
The minister highlighted the fact that the Caribbean bench has been one of the most active in requesting specific support for massive systems and recalled that it was President Iván Duque himself who gave the solution in a meeting with Asocapitales, understanding that in transportation systems The nation has always co-financed the construction and implementation by 70%, but the operation is the responsibility of the municipalities.
Senator César Lorduy explained that there will be an investment credit quota for the Barranquilla District to request it and obtain the resources that will allow the operation of Transmetro. However, he explained that, instead of making investments, the money is going to be taken to make operating expenses initially.
“The District at this time must expedite all the corresponding documents – on which I understand that they are already quite advanced – in order to finalize that financial operation,” he said.
For his part, José Picón, manager of Operator One, thanked the senators and representatives for their efforts to obtain the loan, which would be arriving in about 20 or 30 days, which “are important to guarantee the medium and long term of the operation.
However, he said that short-term resources are the ones that “stay up late because the issue is really quite complicated with sustainability.”
He assured that since the pandemic began they have a cumulative deficit of more than $ 21 billion and despite this they will continue to operate. “That worries us because we are going to be very limited in the operation. That in the end the user notices when the buses take longer or when there are more lines, “he said.
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