Government defends decrees on sanitation overturned in the Chamber

Two ministers of the federal government went to the Senate, this Tuesday (13), to defend the decrees of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva that regulated the basic sanitation sector in the country. Ministers Jader Filho, of Cities, and Rui Costa, of the Civil House, assessed, in a public hearing in the Senate, that the changes were necessary to avoid cutting services. On April 5, 2023, President Lula signed two decrees with the aim of attracting investments in basic sanitation. Among the changes is the reopening of deadlines for companies to prove their economic and financial capacity to carry out the necessary investments by 2033. On May 3, the plenary of the Chamber approved a draft legislative decree (PLD) to suspend sections of decrees of the federal government. During the vote in the Chamber, the parliamentarians maintained that the decrees allow the regularization of contracts that should be extinguished. With this, it avoids the realization of new bids. Now, the PLD is being discussed in the Senate. Minister Jader Filho says that decrees prevented discontinuity of the sanitation service in more than a thousand municipalities – Lula Marques/ Agência Brasil , ran the risk of not providing basic sanitation services. “What we did was change the deadlines that were in the former president’s decrees, expanding and giving the opportunity and possibility for these municipalities not to have the discontinuity of these services”, he justified. One of the decrees extended until December 31, 2024 the deadline for demonstrating the economic and financial capacity of the companies that currently hold basic sanitation concessions. The Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, defended that the objective of the decrees was to attract private investments, since one of the decrees removed the 25% limit for Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the area of ​​sanitation. According to the minister, the forecast is that the decrees will make room for R$ 120 billion in investments in just six states. Minister Rui Costa highlights that the purpose of the decrees was to attract private investment – Lula Marques/ Agência Brasil In addition, Costa stated that the government is legally backed by the Attorney General’s Office (AGU). “If any point is identified that touches or clashes with [com] the law, we are absolutely available to sit down and review this point. So far, we have not identified, nor have we been presented with, any point that clashes with the law approved by the National Congress”, he said. For the opposition leader in the Senate, Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), the decrees violate the Basic Sanitation Framework law. According to him, who was Minister of Regional Development under Jair Bolsonaro, the government could not promote this change through decrees. “It is evident that the government sought a shortcut to reopen the deadline”. For the senator, the promoted changes should be made by bill or a provisional measure. In response to the senator, Minister Jader Filho maintained that the decrees do not change the rules of the law. “What established the deadline of March 31 of this year is not in the law. It’s in the ex-president’s decree. What we did was change what is within the decree, not what is within the law”, highlighted the minister.

Agência Brasil