Mayor Gilberto Alegre spoke with ACTUALIDAD about various issues that concern him. Among them, work, housing and health.
On the other hand, he referred to the expansion of the gas network that is being worked on and the possibility of Banderaló having this service.
He also announced the construction of a new secondary school and the CEAM building in the spaces where it was planned in the initial projects, during his previous administration. The educational establishment in Rivadavia and Pueyrredón; the Municipal Open Education Center, in Castelli and Alvear.
The issues of concern
“In general we can say that things are not that bad. There are sectors that are suffering. I notice a lot of demand for work and obviously for housing, those are the issues that are heard most every day in the Municipality. There is also a lot of demand in health,” said Alegre.
He maintained that he is concerned about “the appreciation of the numbers. We assumed a budget prepared by Campana (Eduardo) and with that we made an assessment. But that projection has changed because the numbers have improved. We are restricting expenses, but we don’t know how far we will go if we give it free rein. We are paying salaries, we are fine, but at some point we have to set limits to this situation; and this generates difficulties, especially in employment and in the social aspect.
Alegre referred to the fact that the municipality is not in a position to deliver certain subsidies requested in health, for example. «Today we don’t have that money. We are working with rates that are much lower than what Ameghino or América charge. We have a very strong demand for machinery repairs or road maintenance; and finding the balance point is very difficult.
The budget that the different areas of the municipality have “today is very dynamic. This scares me a lot. While it is true that stopping inflation has brought some benefits, it is also true that it brings many consequences, because inflation stops with a lack of public investment and work. And since there is no work there is no money, so there is no consumption and there is no inflation. But at what cost? », he asked.
Despite the synthetic context described by the mayor, he insisted that “we are not bad. “I had a more negative view, but we have sorted the numbers and we are not that bad, which does not mean that we are good.”
Traffic light for municipal employees and for the social area. This is how Alegre referred to the measure they will take “to see to what extent we are going to spend money on salaries. When a certain percentage is established, we will say: ‘there is no more money, we have reached this point’. We are at around 55% of monthly spending, we may eventually reach 60% and we will not spend more. We have to stop at that amount. We have to close any income that exceeds those amounts. And we are working on that.”
“We are doing the same thing in the social aspect,” he continued. We are going to create an assistance fund that will have certain limits; and the administration of these funds will be in charge of different officials, such as the secretary of Social Development, the medical director and the director of administration of the Hospital, obviously me; and someone else. You cannot sign subsidies for 800 thousand pesos for example, there has to be an agreement. We have to see how these things are resolved, because otherwise we are going to spend all our money on these types of problems. “We have hundreds of people with problems and we must try to democratize spending.”
Nursing homes. It is another of the issues that worries the mayor. «We have six or seven, where there are many people hospitalized and there are many nursing homes that are close to closure. Obviously if this happens it will harm the family, those who are there and whoever has that space,” he said.
«What we have to do is see how we can prevent this system from exploding. How the municipality joins in the administration of these places with people from the Nursing Home, so that they continue to function for the care of the people and for the good of the community. In a time of crisis like the one we are in, we have to see how we can accompany the most vulnerable sectors,” he added.
“People understand it.” According to Alegre, “people understand” the measures that are being taken by the municipality, because what society suffers, the public also suffers.
He was then asked about the measure taken for the 2024 edition of the Buenos Aires Games. «We have had notable support from people, even from young people who comment that they were going to Mar del Plata to walk and not to compete. They understood it for the most part. Yes, there were adults who made some demonstrations against the decision we had adopted.
«Many kids are going to end up going to Mar del Plata, but there was a school director who spoke badly. And young people write atrocious things to me. I will see with the Inspector what we do with that, because they can’t write those things. They have to respect authority. I think there is a lack of a public system here that can explain to all the kids that we are experiencing a situation of crisis, not of joy. We are complicated. “You try to do everything possible to cause the least damage to the adjustment and this, obviously, has consequences,” she added.
Expansion of the gas network
«Unfortunately we have lost eight years where absolutely nothing was done. All the gas in Villegas is what we left installed when we left. Afterwards nothing was done,” said Alegre.
He stated that “when the construction of the network to the Hospital began in haste, it was not taken into account to call for opposition and background to be able to charge for the work. We did that too. “Now we are working on the projects that Camuzzi has to deliver to us, to start building the expansion of the network in Villegas.”
The issue in Piedritas and Bunge is different, the mayor clarified. «They are needing to expand their supply capacity. They have to put in more tanks and they are not making that offer because they are determined to try to get the company to provide gas for those places as well. In Charlone and Santa Regina we have nothing.
“In Banderaló the claim is more legitimate, because the network passes in front of the town,” Alegre acknowledged. «But there is no project yet. We are talking to the company. These works are all paid, we know that there are sectors that will be able to pay and others that will not. So, you have to finance a network that is quite broad, plus the funds that the municipality can provide. “We are working on that idea,” he added.
He estimated, at the same time, that in 2025 “the networks will surely be expanded, especially in General Villegas. And probably in Banderaló, if we can get authorization for the detour to enter the town. “The station has to be built by Camuzzi and we can take care of the last section of the work.”
Land
On the other hand, he spoke about the lots that will be awarded on the former motocross track, with the call for registration, initially, from the families that are occupying El Chaparral.
“They are still approaching; and now we are going to make an offer of the remaining plots so that people can sign up; and then they will be assigned. There are about 300 plots there. An order is needed. At first it will be complicated, like everything else; and then it will be sorted out,” said the mayor.
The return of CAMIVI, the new secondary school and the construction of CEAM
Alegre also referred to a project “to make a shopping mall a little more sophisticated than what we had with CAMIVI, but everything takes time and money. Now we are focused on the bus terminal, to give it a better view and comfort.”
In another aspect, he said they are working on the possibility of building a new secondary school. «Today this is one of the complicated issues in General Villegas. We need a place to offer another offer. “So we revived the idea of building a building on the corner of the terminal,” he announced.
He also referred to the construction of the CEAM building, in Castelli and Alvear. That had been the initial project in his previous administration and then Eduardo Campana announced the arrival of the House of the Province to that space.
«Nothing was ever done there and we cannot lose that space that we need. We are going to resume the initial project and build the CEAM, which today has about 250 students. We need to give it greater visibility and the building is an alternative. “We’re going to start soon,” he added.
Machineries
Alegre commented, on the other hand, that a special edition of the Official Gazette was published where “we took photos of the state in which all the machinery was delivered to us, so that people can see it. We need to recover them and be better. We are doing things very well, although we lack resources. “Maybe we can’t do everything we have in mind, but some works are starting.”
Home for old people
He also responded to the statements of the president of the Nursing Home Cooperator, Alicia Laino, who in dialogue with ACTUALIDAD referred to the need to conclude some works that had begun in the institution.
«We have to take charge of everything that was not done; and I did not hear them complaining about the previous government about this. “They demand solutions from us, but they didn’t do it before,” he finally expressed.
