The legislature is a period of time established for Congress to meet in ordinary sessions, between July 20 and June 20 of the following year; that is, each constitutional period consists of four legislatures.
On July 20 following the presidential election, the day the Congress of the Republic is installed, a constitutional period begins. In this sense, EL NUEVO SIGLO spoke with four representatives to the Chamber about the projects approved for the benefit of Bogotá.
Congressman Heraclito Landínez, from the Historical Pact, highlighted the approval of 1 trillion pesos in the budget addition to reduce the deficit of mass public transportation systems in the country, which will benefit Transmilenio.
For her part, the first vice president of the House of Representatives and congresswoman of the Green Alliance, Olga Lucía Velásquez, maintained that this year of the legislature in Bogotá has done very well.
“First, because it achieved financial closure for the second line of the underground metro through the Public Credit Commission, which is led by the Congress of the Republic and the Ministry of Finance. The approval of the letter of credit that was missing to be able to make that financial closing and launch the tender was also achieved, so that is a super important achievement between Congress and the national government, ”he explained.
With the approval of the National Development Plan, on May 5, support was also given to the projects and programs for the development of Bogotá as the capital of the country, with budgetary efforts aimed at improving mobility, security and access to goods and services. services, which will have an impact on improving the lives of Colombians.
“This is how the Pluriannual Investment Plan (PPI) contemplates and promotes the execution of the goals outlined in the PND for Bogotá. And in the framework of the debate, I presented 10 proposals that were included in projects approved for the city and others for the development of the capital,” said Velásquez.
These projects correspond to the Organ Center; construction of the depressed area of Bogotá, Soacha, Sibaté, Cundinamarca; construction of the Siberia interchange and extension of the calle 80 bridge of guadua; construction of the Science, Technology and Innovation District; design and construction of six aerial cables: Historic Center or Monserrate Reunion, Ciudad Bolívar-Potosí, Usaquén (Cerro Norte, Santa Cecilia), La Calera, Ciudad Bolívar-Sierra Morena and Branch to Juan Rey; airport logistics circuit; first, second and third lines of the subway; electrification of public transport systems; night economy; and boost to the night economy.
Likewise, to the Comprehensive Public Policy on Mental Health, for the prevention and care of phenomena of social determinants; adoption of Green Hydrogen initiatives; restoration of historical heritage; vaccine generation; construction of university polycampuses (Suba and Kennedy); and expansion and improvement of infrastructure of the National, District, Pedagogical and SENA universities
More resources for the city
For her part, representative Katherine Miranda, from the same bench, explained that among what was left for Bogotá in the first year of the legislature, more resources for Transmilenio stand out.
“During the budget addition we obtained resources for 1 trillion pesos for mass transportation systems; Of these, 660 billion will go to cover the daily operation of Transmilenio in the city, ”he reiterated.
In addition, there will be more investment resources in 2023, since in the approval of the General Budget of the Nation (PGN) of 2023 they obtained resources in the order of 5 trillion pesos, of which 200 billion will go to improve the airport El Dorado, another 500 billion pesos for job training, 148 billion pesos for electricity subsidies and around 360 billion for Icetex credits.
“Bogotá is present in the PND: we completed 28 lines of investment and 17 specific projects formulated for Bogotá within the Pluriannual Investment Plan, including the restoration of the San Juan de Dios Hospital Complex, joint work with the District to build a vaccine production plant in the city and the co-financing of subway lines 1 and 2 and even the San Cristóbal, Potosí and El Reencuentro-Monserrate cables. We also obtained resources for the rehabilitation of the regional railway network and the expansion of the infrastructure of public universities, and sensitive issues such as the management of the Doña Juana sanitary landfill”, emphasized Miranda.
Finally, the representative Diego Fernando Caicedo of the U party, maintained that from the House of Representatives they worked for Bogotá and Cundinamarca on various issues.
“From my seat, in the Sixth Commission, the railway law was approved in the first debate, of which I am the speaker coordinator, which will improve the country’s competitiveness, connecting Bogotá more efficiently with the ports of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. In addition, I summoned the director of ANLA to political control to request explanations about the filing of the Environmental License application for the Regiotram de Occidente project, in order to seek articulated solutions that prevent the suspension of such an important project for Bogotá and Cundinamarca,” he said. .
He added that he cited political control by the state of the following concession projects:
Accesos Norte 1 and the delays in the construction of the Troncal de los Andes, an infrastructure that improves access to Bogotá from the north of the city.
Eastern Perimeter of Cundinamarca, a project that allows the city to decongest by diverting traffic, mainly cargo, between the north of the country and the Eastern Plains through a new road that, by bypassing Bogotá, improves the city’s mobility.
Similarly, he recalled that in plenary it was possible to approve the article in the National Development Plan that allows the national government to invest more resources in the Bogotá metro project and the addition of a budget to close the deficit of mass transportation systems. and avoid a possible cessation of operation.
“This greatly benefits Bogotá, since Transmilenio is the system that moves the most passengers in the country,” the representative concluded.
Indeed, the Congress of the Republic approved the budgetary addition of 1 billion pesos to guarantee the co-financing of the public transport systems of 14 cities, including Transmilenio de Bogotá.
“By agreement between the mayors, national government and approval in the Congress of the Republic, 1 billion pesos of support for public transport enters and they authorize us to start renegotiating contracts with private operators so that they also contribute,” said Claudia López, mayor of Bogotá, through Twitter.
This investment, according to the mayoress, allows the Transmilenio system to cover the operation it carries out in the city. “In the budget addition of mass transportation, Bogotá and Transmilenio account for 66% of that income, approximately 660,000 million pesos. It is important because it is not only for the system of the capital, but for the other cities of the country. A joint effort that paid off,” said López.
With this budgetary addition, it was possible to endorse the proposal for the sustainability of the mass public transport systems of 14 cities, including Bogotá.