When it was thought that the entanglement that has been generated around the sale of the shares that EPM keeps in UNE, A new concern was expressed by several councilors this Tuesday, after the installation of the extra sessions in the Medellin Council, which will last until September 30.
From the Democratic Center (CD) they denounced that, at the last minute, the administration included an article in the draft agreement that could lead to the proposal sinking again.
Perhaps the most important topic of these sessions is the project that seeks approval for the possibility of EPM leaves once and for all the business of the telecommunications company, a proposal that has been marked by disagreements and great distrust of some councilors in the destination that Mayor Daniel Quintero would seek for the resources obtained in an eventual sale: some $2.8 billion.
Well this Tuesday, Alejandro Arias, mayor in charge, filed again the project that seeks the guarantee to sell the shares. “This project had not been approved in past debates, but some councilors have already given their word to approve it and that billions of pesos are saved for all citizens,” he said.
Indeed, as was known this Monday, September 19, the Democratic Center caucus, one of the biggest opponents of the sale due to mistrust in the administration, expressed its openness to approving the proposal. However, this was conditioned to aspects that, according to what was said, were accepted by Quintero. But then, according to what they said, they put an article in them that they ask to be eliminated or they will not give their positive vote.
What were the conditions?
The first condition was that the money obtained from a possible sale is destined, in its entirety, to a strategic investment project that is part of the assets owned by EPM, in such a way that, ultimately, one asset would be exchanged for another. The second, that for no reason will the money from the sale of UNE be transferred to Medellín.
The third, which a special audit contracted with an expert firm is created to verify that the proceeds from the sale of UNE are allocated to EPM’s strategic investment project. And the fourth, that the academy, made up of highly accredited universities, verifies for three years that all the money from the possible sale is allocated solely and exclusively to a strategic investment project and that all the clauses prescribed here are complied with. condition the sale of UNE.
Councilor Carlos Ríos, from the Democratic Center, recalled that he cannot vote on the project because he declared himself unable to do so, but he stated that he ratifies his position and that he has told his caucus so: “We cannot deliver the resources to this administration, because the mayor generates distrust, he has made us fight and has the interests of his political project above the city”.
Although it is assumed that this distrust had been mitigated with the inclusion of the conditions of the Democratic Center in the proposal filed by the Mayor’s Office, this Tuesday several councilors said that the Mayor’s Office made a new move to manage the resources in its own way.
The article in question says that the resources that EPM obtains from the alienation “will be incorporated into your budget and will be managed from one or several specific destination accounts, so that they are destined to the fulfillment of its investment plan and to partially or totally cancel the debt service associated with it”.
For councilor Julio González, also from the CD, there was never an agreement with the Medellín administration regarding this proposal, since what they presented are conditions with which they seek transparency in the process. “We are not giving Quintero the money, but we understood that it is necessary to sell the shares,” González said.
For his part, the corporation Alfredo Ramos expressed that it has not been possible to set aside the distrust around the agreement project, since, from the CD, they are not certain that the administration complies with all the conditions. “We want to contribute to the city project, but that does not mean that just because they accepted a proposal then it will be enough for us to support it,” he said.
Councilman Sebastián López, from the same party, said that the article that the administration included at the last minute caught them by surprise: “We thought they were serious, we shook hands, we announced the agreement and then we saw that they included a new article; if they don’t remove it, we’re not going to support the proposal”.
In any case, the First Committee will study the draft agreement. And, once the debate arises and is approved there, it will go to a plenary session so that the councilors can cast their vote and decide the future of the actions that are still held in UNE.