We need as many investors as possible for universal sanitation, says Jader Filho – 02/16/2023 – Market

Minister Jader Filho (Cities) defended a mixture of public and private investment to achieve, by 2033, the goal of universalizing the service —that is, providing water for 99% of the population and sewage collection and treatment for 90%.

“The important thing is that you have investment. It doesn’t matter where it comes from, and that we can have universalization [do saneamento do país]. No one alone in this process will be able to do this. We need as many people as possible, actors who want to invest in sanitation. And you have to give them the opportunity, whether state or private sector,” said the minister to Sheet.

The government has studied changes in the new legal framework for sanitation.

One of the ideas of the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), such as the Sheet showed, is to expand the presence of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in sanitation contracts.

Jader Filho and other members of the Executive are in talks with entities in the sector, such as Abcon (National Association and Union of Private Concessionaires of Public Water and Sewage Services), Aesbe (Brazilian Association of State Sanitation Companies) and Assemae ( National Association of Municipal Sanitation Services).

“What President Lula has recommended to us is the issue of investment. So you need to give predictability to the private sector, but you also have to give the public sector freedom to make investments,” stated the Minister of Cities.

In 2020, Jair Bolsonaro (PL) sanctioned the law so that the private sector would be more open to work in the area of ​​basic sanitation, one of the biggest bottlenecks in the country.

In addition to encouraging the participation of private companies, the legislation defined 2033 as a target for its universalization.

The central point of the new legal framework was the program contract, the name given to contracts signed directly between municipalities and state water and sewage companies —without bidding.

At the time, cases of municipalities that had already opened this sector to the private sector were rare.

The government wants to review points in the regulation of the new sanitation framework and is discussing this with industry representatives.

Aesbe has already defended, in a meeting at the Planalto Palace, that some program contracts be extended. One of the arguments is that the extension is necessary in some cases because obligations and targets have been included.

Asked about this possibility, Jader Filho said that this will be discussed in the forum with the entities.

“We want to know what the alternatives are. That’s why we asked the sector to talk to each other,” said the minister.

The new legal framework was approved by the Bolsonaro government, which sponsored a project to make the private sector more open to work in the area of ​​basic sanitation.

The main idea was to replace program contracts with concession contracts, which require competition with the private sector. This exchange, however, was made more flexible (extending the deadline for some cases) in Congress.

According to the minister, if negotiations with the entities point to the need to adjust the law, the government should propose the change to Congress.