Bogotá mayor names new utility head at crucial moment
The mayor of Bogotá, Enrique Peñalosa (pictured, left), has appointed Germán González Reyes (right) as director of the city's water and sewerage utility EAB.
A lawyer by trade, Reyes has held positions with Colombia's residential public services regulator Superservicios, with Bogotá state-run telco ETB, as well as with state-run telecommunications company TELECOM, local news outlet El Espectador reported.
The tasks for Reyes include the expected dissolution of EAB's solid waste collection and sanitation subsidiary Aguas de Bogotá, which was created in 2012 under former mayor Gustavo Petro.
Aguas de Bogotá handles some 52% of Bogotá's solid waste management and collection services, operations that Peñalosa sees as too economically onerous for a traditional public service company, the daily reported.
Meanwhile, EAB is in the early stages of preparing and implementing a new solid waste management plan, known locally as the PGIRS, which is aimed at integrating management and collection services and promoting the reuse of recyclable waste.
Colombia is pressing for the implementation of the PGIRS across the country, although Superservicios has warned of difficulties implementing tariff schemes for municipalities which have yet to adopt the new PGIRS. Only 217 of 1,102 municipal governments have registered updated PGIRS plans to date, despite the deadline being April 30, Superservicios noted in a statement.
Also in the pipeline for EAB are two important sewerage treatment works planned in Bogotá, which are part of a larger initiative to decontaminate the city's Bogotá river.
Works are expected to begin imminently for the US$430mn overhaul of the El Salitre wastewater treatment plant, while the city and the Cundinamarca department government are presently evaluating financing options to build the Canoas wastewater treatment plant, which is expected to require an investment amount to similar that for Salitre.
Both works will enable the treatment of nearly all wastewater generated in the city.
Bogotá's non-revenue water level stood at roughly 35% at the end of 2015, and EAB is hoping to keep the figure from increasing through 2016 while a master plan study is being finalized to identify vulnerabilities in its water infrastructure, according to the utility's annual report.
Reyes replaces former EAB director, Evamaría Uribe Tobón, who held the position for just under four months. Local media reported that Peñalosa's administration asked for her resignation due to standoffs with unions affiliated with the public service entity.
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