SP Chamber will not vote on the sale of Sabesp in 2023 and will investigate the company’s guilt in pollution – 12/07/2023 – Panel

The São Paulo City Council should not vote on the privatization of Sabesp in 2023. Milton Leite (União Brasil), president of the House, tells the Panel that the consideration of the issue is “highly unlikely” this year.

In October, when he announced that the House would start discussing the sale of the state-owned company, Leite said that the intention was to approve the sale in 2023, following the schedule of the Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicanos-SP) government. This Wednesday (6), the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo authorized the operation.

However, he has since criticized the state administration for the lack of information regarding the process and has said that he is against privatization in the way it has been carried out.

Last week, as shown by the Panel, Leite stated that he believes that the city should receive 55% of the value of the sale of shares to accept the extension of the contract from 2040 to 2060, given that it accounts for this portion of the state-owned company’s revenue.

He also told councilors that they cannot “fire a shot”, but that their army “has to be ready for war”, in a quote he attributed to George Washington, former president of the USA.

Leite tells the column that the Chamber is focused on analyzing the review of the Zoning Law and that a possible vote on privatization in the capital would depend on the sending of a bill by the São Paulo City Council, which did not happen.

According to him, the lack of information regarding privatization from the government of São Paulo makes it impossible for the city hall to prepare a proposal and, even more so, for the Chamber to authorize the privatization.

Leite highlights that essential information is not yet known to assess the viability or otherwise of privatization, such as the portion of the sales value that will be allocated to the municipality and how the capital will be compensated for the pollution from the dams — which, according to him, results from failures in sewage treatment by Sabesp.

The Special Study Committee formed by the São Paulo Legislature to evaluate the sale of the state-owned company will carry out investigations on Friday (8) at the Billings and Guarapiranga dams, in search of evidence of possible negligence by Sabesp in the treatment of sewage that would be generating accumulation of sludge in these locations. The raids will be led by councilor Sidney Cruz, from Solidariedade.

“We are going to prove what we already know: that Sabesp has a very large environmental liability”, says Cruz. “We need to ensure that payment is made now, there will be no way to charge after the signing of the privatization contract.”

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