The wastewater treatment plant to decontaminate the Magdalena River has experienced its own ordeal. Despite the stormy Way of the Cross, a new hope appeared to facilitate the resurrection.
RICARDO AREIZA
investigativeunit@lanación.com.co
The wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to stop the serious contamination of the Magdalena River remains crucified.
Despite the unsuccessful attempts to ‘resurrect’ it, the strategic project, ordered 19 years ago, was buried in the shelves of the state inefficiency of the Public Companies of Neiva.
Not even judicial actions, including several contempt with fines and arrests, managed to revive it to stop the high pollution load that rushes into the Magdalena River, in at least 23 points, only in Neiva.
After a painful ordeal, the National Environmental License Authority (Anla) definitively archived the administrative procedure for the approval of the environmental license for not complying with the minimum requirements and, therefore, buried the viability of the project, ordered 19 years ago. years due to a court ruling.
The three applications processed by the Public Companies of Neiva were rejected because the information provided for their processing was insufficient, generated uncertainty, and presented enormous technical and environmental deficiencies, which EPN was unable to correct. The decision is recorded in Order No. 04357 of 2022 issued on June 9, 2022.
“Given the shortcomings found in the environmental study, the administrative procedure initiated was archived, since it prevents the environmental authority from being able to continue with the evaluation of said study and issue the corresponding statement, thus completing the process early,” he explained. at the time Rodrigo Suárez Castaño, the then general director of the entity.
In conclusion, the ANLA ordered the definitive archiving of the file. The advance procedures were left at zero.
Worry
Faced with this reality, a commission of citizen observers asked the current manager of Public Companies, Andrés Eduardo Charry Guilombo, to start from scratch, give the work the priority, form a specialized unit to take charge of the project and allow its ” Resurrection”.
The meeting took place last Monday at the EPN headquarters.
“It is unacceptable that after almost two decades of failed efforts, the Neiva Mayor’s Office does not have studies and technical designs to execute the work as a priority. But, also, that public resources have been unjustifiably squandered in the two consultancies whose results do not satisfy the basic requirements for this type of projects,” the social leaders expressed in the face of the paralysis of the initiative.
Lost investment
Rightly, they explained that resources exceeding ten billion pesos have been squandered in two consultancies (Consorcio Neiva 2009 – April 2011 and Hidrosan SAS in August 2017), as well as in the acquisition of two lots, located in a reserve area. environmental and updating designs, which ended in a “shameful failure.”
The first property, next to the Santander bridge, was acquired in 2013 for a value of 2,664 million pesos contributed by the Government (1,200 million) and 1,464 million corresponding to own resources, which represented the first advance.
On February 21, 2019, Public Companies contracted to update the environmental impact studies and the environmental management plan, which also did not work.
The update cost 429 million pesos. Likewise, an archeology study required by the Colombian Institute of Anthropology was contracted at a cost of 39.87 million pesos.
Public Companies have invested 468.95 million pesos in these studies. The pre-investment amounts to 5,324 million pesos, of which 2,837 million correspond to EPN resources executed between 2013 and 2019.
During the Lara administration EPN signed an agreement with the National Planning Department for the structuring of a Public Private Association (PPP) for the construction of the project with resources from the Inter-American Development Bank. It turned out to be another failure.
Worse still, 19 years were lost, without a firm step having been taken, in the midst of improvisation.
Political will
“The clear thing is that, in this project, no one knows what to do. Not even Public Companies know what needs to be done to ensure its execution. The clear thing is that we have to find a team of experts to resume the project and define the model,” the official explained.
“It is not a lack of political will, as has been said. We have interest, all the will to return to the issue and resolve the problems that have arisen, including the liquidation of the 2017 consulting contract that will prevent its execution,” he noted.
The project
The construction of the wastewater treatment plant was ordered in 2005 by the Administrative Court of Huila in the process of a popular action to contain the serious contamination of the Magdalena River.
The judicial action, promoted by Gustavo Mora Perea, president of the Association of Users of Home Public Services of Huila, remains crucified.
The work, according to the ruling, would have to be financed by the Mayor’s Office of Neiva, Public Companies of Neiva, Government of Huila, Autonomous Corporation of Alto Magdalena (CAM) and Cormagdalena.
According to the ruling, these related entities had to execute at least one of the three planned treatment plants by 2011 at the latest. Before the end of 2015, they had the obligation to guarantee a complete solution to the problem of pollution of the Magdalena River due to wastewater that is discharged without any treatment.
This decision was confirmed on June 11, 2009 by the Council of State. After almost two decades, the court rulings have not been fulfilled and the work remains in the grave.
According to the ruling, the related entities had to execute at least one of the three planned treatment plants by 2011 at the latest and before the end of 2015, they had the obligation to guarantee a definitive solution. After 13 years of that ordeal, the project with peremptory deadlines was buried.
The concern
In this first meeting with Public Companies, the oversight committee insisted on expediting the contracting of technical studies for the execution of at least the first phase.
“The municipality of Neiva, as the sole responsible for the sanitation of the water discharged from the sewer into the Magdalena River, must incorporate into the Municipal Development Plan as an action that cannot be postponed, the technical, human and financial resources that guarantee compliance with the judicial rulings that They weigh on their municipal authority.
“After almost two decades, there is no concrete solution for the decontamination of the water discharged into the Magdalena River, by the municipality of Neiva. Despite the loss of enormous economic resources, to date there is no project that meets the requirements of a work of this magnitude,” expressed leaders of the oversight office.
Clean slate
“The project must start from scratch. The mistakes of the past cannot be repeated,” explained the citizen observer, Humberto Castro.
In their opinion, new studies and designs that satisfy all legal requirements and technical and environmental specifications and sustainable costs must be urgently contracted to achieve a definitive solution.
“The new studies must contemplate the comprehensive alternative so that the selected treatment system treats all of Neiva’s wastewater, in the present and in the long term, with a low-cost treatment system for the user or subscriber, easy to operate. , maintenance and administration,” noted engineer Marcos Silva.
“The issue is complicated, but it should be included in the Territorial Planning Plan. He must join the POT to avoid repeating the mistakes,” insisted former governor Jaime Salazar.
“The first step must be – as explained by the economist Germán Palomo, the municipal administration, as responsible for the sanitation of the water discharged from the sewage into the Magdalena River, must incorporate the initiative into the Municipal Development Plan as an action that cannot be postponed.”
“The WWTP must be one of the three priority strategic projects, with financing possibilities through international cooperation resources. But for that, projects must be presented for international co-financing,” noted engineer Paulino Galindo Yustres.
In fact, the resurrection of the work will not be easy. Not only in the technical and environmental part, but especially for the financial component.
Tangled financing
The work, according to the original project, would be executed in two phases, as designed, with an investment of 215 billion pesos, according to the financial closing of 2019. The National Government would contribute 124,780 million pesos, about 6,000 million pesos annually. for 20 years.
Another 20 billion pesos would be provided by the Ministry of Housing for the first phase.
However, according to the DNP, the system cost in October 2021 under the PPP scheme, around 450,000 million pesos, 14,000 million pesos for 22 years.
The last figure reported last year by EPN amounted to 553 billion pesos. As the sources of the resources required to guarantee the financial closure of the project for its execution under the public works modality were not achieved, the Ministry of Housing returned the project on August 22, 2022.
According to Ricardo Vega, this value would imply that the figures initially projected after the ruling issued in 2005 will have to be modulated so that they are distributed among the entities, according to their powers. However, the other compromised entities, according to the ruling, took out the suitcase.
By stages
What is clear is that Mayor German Casagua is thinking of the project as a public works contract, in stages, to be executed in several phases. According to the manager of EPN, Andrés Eduardo Charry, doing it through a Public-Private Alliance as planned in the previous administration is ruled out.
Mayor Rodrigo Lara, contrary to what was promised, failed in the attempt. The announced co-financing with the Inter-American Development Bank was never achieved and the proposal was aborted. The same thing happened during the period of Mayor Gorky Muñoz.
“The truth is that today the project is at zero. We do not have a clear horizon on what needs to be done. For that reason, we are interested in confirming a highly technical team to determine the steps to follow, and not repeat the mistakes of the past,” said Charry Guilombo.
“We aspire to appoint a technical manager for the WWTP so that we can define the project. We have every will to materialize the work,” he stressed.
The first step will be to liquidate a 2017 consulting contract, integrate the team, determine the technical studies and designs, restart the procedures for environmental licensing and secure financing for at least the first stage. It could be? Let’s pray, then.
