The mayor of Belo Horizonte, Álvaro Damião (União Brasil), evaluated the work of the city hall after the death of the then re-elected mayor Fuad Nomanin March this year, at the age of 77, after months of hospitalization with severe acute respiratory failure.
In an interview with CNN New Day this Monday (15), Damião said that the government transition was “very difficult”. “Everyone followed the affection I had for Mayor Fuad. We suffered together and, for me, everything was very difficult. I don’t even count the first months while he was hospitalized and I was in charge of the city hall. We were doing what we could and holding on,” he said.
Damião also said that he continued Fuad’s legacy at city hall, but said that the current government added other objectives to the city hall’s work. Among them, the mayor cited the launch of the Catraca Livre program, on Sunday (14), which offers free buses in the capital of Minas Gerais on Sundays and holidays.
Also according to Damião, the implementation of zero fares in public transport in the capital of Minas Gerais depends fundamentally on financial incentives from the federal government. He stated that it is unfeasible for city halls to bear the costs of total free tuition on their own without the participation of the Union.
According to him, Belo Horizonte City Hall already subsidizes almost one billion reais of public transport per year, and adding another billion and a half reais to fund the zero fare would be unsustainable for municipal finances. “If I put another billion and a half on the back of the city hall, I will bankrupt the city hall,” he said.
The mayor made a point of differentiating the Free Turnstile programalready implemented in the city on Sundays and holidays, . The current program is made possible with resources returned by the City Council, which returns around 70 million reais per year to municipal coffers, while the cost of free weekends is around 40 to 50 million reais.
Coordination with the federal government
Damião revealed that he has already spoken to and participated in meetings at the National Front of Mayors in Brasília to discuss the topic. “He is already talking to his ministers about this issue,” stated the mayor, referring to the dialogue initiated with the federal government.
For the municipal manager, the central issue is not the political will to offer the benefit to the population, but rather who will bear the costs. With the federal government participating financially, the mayor believes that city managers across Brazil should be able to pay for the program.
During the interview, the mayor also addressed the challenges faced by the city during the period of intense rain, highlighting that investments in containment basins carried out in recent years have minimized the impacts, although flooding still occurs in some parts of the capital of Minas Gerais.
Despite the difficulties and troubled transition, Damião positively evaluated the end of the city hall year.
