Mayor of SP wants to include the sale of Sabesp in the 2024 Budget and demands Tarcísio – 12/01/2023 – Panel

President of the São Paulo City Council, Milton Leite (União Brasil) asked the 2024 Budget rapporteur, Sidney Cruz (Solidariedade), to include two items in the project: one for revenues arising from the possible privatization of Sabesp by the Tarcísio de Freitas government ( Republicans-SP) and another for resources to create a municipal water and sewage treatment agency, if the capital does not participate in the privatization and decides to take over the services.

The municipal budget was approved on Monday (29) and will undergo a second vote by the end of this month.

Leite’s request puts pressure on Tarcísio to discuss how much of the proceeds from the sale of Sabesp will go to the capital, which accounts for 55% of the state-owned company’s revenue, which the government has not done so far and has been asked to do by the municipalities.

The São Paulo government did not release figures on how much it should raise for public coffers with privatization nor details about the supposed reduction in tariffs if the company goes under private control.

Governor Tarcísio included the privatization of Sabesp in the Annual Budget Bill that he sent to the Legislative Assembly at the beginning of October.

When discussing the issue on Wednesday (29), during a Chamber session, Leite said “we cannot fire a shot, but our army has to be ready for war”, in a quote he attributed to George Washington.

The president of the Chamber said that he is against the current format of privatization, in which the “money only went there”, in reference to the state government. “The municipality should not give up [do serviço de água e esgoto] without a minimum grant”.

According to Leite, the city must receive 55% of the sale value to accept the extension of the contract from 2040 to 2060 for the concession to continue, given that it accounts for this portion of the state-owned company’s revenue. Furthermore, he defends the maintenance of the allocation of 7.5% of the gross revenue obtained in the capital by the company to the Municipal Fund for Environmental Sanitation and Infrastructure (FMSAI) and 13% for investments in the capital.

“It’s not fair that we extend the deadline and the municipality is left with nothing more than the problems they are leaving behind”, stated the president of the Chamber.

In October, after saying that it considered formal approval by municipalities of new contracts with Sabesp to be unnecessary for the privatization of the company to be carried out, the Tarcísio government backed down and stated that there would, indeed, be the participation of the São Paulo Legislature.

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