The operation of the District in 2021 will cost 23.9 billion pesos, according to the budget project filed by the Ministry of Finance in the Bogotá Council. They are almost 3 billion more than what was allocated for this 2020
84 percent of these resources ($ 20.1 trillion, of which 3.4 trillion correspond to the debt quota) will be for investment, which becomes a historic amount for the city. Compared to the projected closure for the current term, when it is expected to conclude with a figure of 14.1 trillion, investment grows 27 percent.
The sectors with the greatest resources will be mobility, with 6 billion; education, with 4.7, and health, with 3.4 billion. The remaining 6 billion pesos are divided between social integration, habitat, security, culture, recreation and sports, and others.
According to the Secretary of the Treasury, Juan Mauricio Ramírez, the budget for 2021 is “austere”, since it has a reduction of 4 percent in operating expenses, compared to 2020, and responds to two major challenges: economic reactivation and social rescue , which has 1.6 trillion – of the 20.1 trillion investment – and which will be directed to programs for the poorest and most vulnerable population of the city.
“Both are needed because without economic reactivation there is no social rescue, which is how to help the households that have been hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis so that they can once again have income and employment opportunities,” said the official.
With both strategies, the District seeks to put the country’s capital back on the growth path and bring the gross domestic product (GDP) to positive numbers.
It is estimated that this year will end with -6 percent – the worst forecasts point to – 8% – and next year it will grow by 4%. But, in addition, to return to the levels of poverty and unemployment, particularly in women, before the covid.
Both are needed because without economic reactivation there is no social rescue, which is how to help the households that have been hardest hit by the covid-19 crisis
The economic reactivation and the debt quota for 10 trillion pesos, approved by the Council, are a key part of the Marshall Plan and include tax relief, incentives, aid for the formalization of companies and infrastructure projects in localities.
As part of this component, according to Ramírez, of the total investment planned for next year, 5.23 billion will be allocated through civil works and construction of buildings –in the different sectors–. It is estimated that these resources will generate 61,000 jobs.
In the same way, there are 4.4 billion contemplated for issues of social rescue and poverty, through health, education and care programs.
For the same purpose, and also for reactivation, investments of 3.8 trillion are projected, which will be distributed in education, care and housing strategies, subsidies and transfers.
Regarding specific projects, with resources from the 2021 budget, the Administration intends to advance initiatives that it considers strategic, such as the green corridor of Carrera 7, consolidating the metro as the articulating axis of the public transport system, the Cycloalameda del Medio Milenio (see attached note), the works of the TransMilenio trunk lines in 68 and the City of Cali –which have already been contracted–. All will benefit more than 1.7 million people and generate around 52,000 jobs.
Also on the list are the studies and designs of the San Cristóbal cable and the pre-feasibility of the Usaquén and Ciudad Bolívar cables (in Potosí), the studies to guarantee the urban insertion of the Western and Northern Regiotrams, as well as the studies environmental conditions for the execution of Cerros Avenue.
