Mayor Claudia López, in an interview with Colombia´s newspaper El Tiempo, gave a detailed balance of what has been her first year in office, highlighting the progress of her administration, the tasks that remain and the challenges she faced.
In the interview, the Mayor points out that in a year marked by the pandemic, she is surprised at how she had to assume situations such as: the worst health emergency that Bogotá has had in the last century, two environmental emergencies in addition to the worst winter wave of the decade and the excesses of the September 9 and 10 protests. "The only thing we didn´t have this year was a meteorite," the mayor told the capital´s newspaper.
In the statements supplied to the newspaper, the mayor Claudia López assured that she managed to carry out tasks such as achieving more access for young people to higher education, implementing the district care system, more bike paths in the city to facilitate mobility and facilitate, in coordination with the National Government, a minimum income for the poorest citizens.
In addition, she pointed out that issues such as charging for on-street parking, public bicycles, the Territorial Organizational Plan (POT) and not having taken advantage of the quarantine for citizens to implement the culture of recycling from their homes, were pending matters.
She highlighted the determination of the City Council to support decisions that within the framework of quarantine allowed the creation of agencies “such as the one for science and technology, Ágata, the approval of the Marshall plan and millionaire resources for the purchase of vaccines, a quota of debt for 10.7 billion pesos and the approval of a budget of 21 billion pesos for the coming year ”, says the article.
The mayor envisions an improvement in 2021 in which infrastructure, sustainability and women's projects will be consolidated. A year in which the presidential campaign is approaching and in which she warns the candidates "Please, gentlemen, do not go campaigning at the cost of destroying Bogotá."
Tests and ICU
The mayor revealed to El Tiempo that she was surprised with her ability to manage the crisis generated by the arrival of covid-19, as well as others that were added such as unemployment and the La Niña phenomenon. ”Lead based on science, test acquisition and double the ICU capacity: in six months we went from 200 tests per day to 30,000 tests per day and from 935 ICUs to 2,200. It was leading to care, taking big risks: closing a city of 8 million inhabitants, for six weeks in a row ”.
Economic Reactivation
In addition, the mayor pointed out that in the midst of that leadership it was key to plan the economic reactivation by accelerating the main tools of the new social and environmental contract proposed to the city. In the four years of her mandate, one of her priorities will be the establishment of the basic income for half a million people, which was achieved within the six months when a basic income was made available for 800,000 people.
In terms of education there were also great achievements as the government of Mayor Claudia López had zero enrollment fees for 23,000 students from the District University. Likewise, one of the goals for the next four years is to implement the District System of Care that already has two operating blocks of care.
Septima Green Corridor
The mayor explained that for the seventh main street a green corridor will be implemented instead of a Transmilenio Line. To do this, the hiring process was revoked, the legal dispute was resolved and with the contributions of 50,000 of Bogota´s citizens the conceptual design of the green corridor was created.
Van Der Hammen Reserve
The city leader assured that the issue of the Van Der Hammen reserve is one of the cases that were corrected by issuing a decree that was signed to protect it. She affirmed that it is not a pasture and that it will be the largest urban forest in Latin America with 1,350 hectares.
Security in Bogotá
Regarding the issue of security, she stated that the city needs more and better police services, "more citizen collaboration and coordinated work between the Mayor's Office and the Police on local security fronts, reading 4,500 real time security cameras in Bogotá (with artificial intelligence) to have predictive data analytics, and a better judicial process”.
She recognizes that gangs composed of Colombian and Venezuelan citizens have increased thefts, pointing to the illegality and undocumented nature of immigrants, which makes it difficult to impose justice.
Bogotá smart city
The mayor explained that Bogotá is the first smart city in the country and that continuing with that leadership means creating jobs and finding jobs in the field. “Bogotá needs fewer accountants and lawyers and more programmers, but we have to train them”, to which the Sena pointed out that 200,000 people will be trained and that 45,000 young people will graduate, in double technical and technological degrees.
Public Works in Bogotá
According to the mayor, two documents raised concerns about the future of public works in Bogotá: an order from Judge Nelly Villamizar that asked to stop the partial plans of the municipalities of the Bogotá river basin.
And the second case had to do with a resolution of the Planning Secretariat that repeals the updating of the risk map made by the past administration, which was vital to locate the metro's workshop yard near the Bogotá river. "The cartography of the POT should be changed with the POT, not by resolutions without POT," said the mayor.
The mayor said that upon her arrival she found studies of kindergartens, schools and works in public spaces. She pointed out that if the works are started from scratch, they would begin in 2023, which is why the studies and designs of 15 schools will continue to deliver a total of 35 institutions during her mandate, in hospitals there were studies and designs of three new hospitals.
TransMilenio
Mayor Claudia López pointed out that the transportation system must be reduced to its proper proportions. That when she arrived to the mayor´s office, TransMilenio did not know where 70% of its buses were every day, which is why information could not be given to citizens and that today TransMilenio knows in real time, every day where 98% of its buses are.
Bogotá metro
The mayor highlighted that the metro began the construction process despite all the difficulties and with the economy slowed down in the world, achieving the expansion of the metro to Suba and Engativá.
She did not rule out the possibility that the Metro is redesigned to be underground due to the chosen route and the experience of better urban impact, but she assured that the decision will be known in February 2021.
Finally, the mayor expressed her excitement that the city will end the year with the largest electric fleet in Latin America, which allows the city to advance in sustainable environmental development. "For now, Chile beats us, they have 1,059 buses. Yesterday we managed to complete 889 ”.
To read this article in spanish, click here.
