Comptroller's Office draws attention again due to delays in the reconstruction of Mocoa

Five years after the Mocoa tragedy, the plan to rebuild the municipality is still proceeding slowly and the risks of being affected by a new winter wave continue. Thus, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic sent a warning to the director of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), Eduardo José González, about the risks of loss of public resources and/or negative impact on public interests that this situation entails.

It was explained that in order to deal with the tragedy in Mocoa, it was necessary to articulate several sectors of the national Government and the acquisition of considerable resources. These monies came from the General Budget of the Nation, the General Royalty System, the UNGRD budget and some appropriations, of which a significant majority are still to be implemented.

The warning control of the state entity indicates that there are seven cases in which some intervention must take place in order for the pending infrastructure projects to be mitigated and completed. Among these variables is controlling the channel of water bodies, rebuilding infrastructure in terms of housing, aqueducts, schools, hospitals and prisons.

With regard to mitigation works in riverbeds and streams, in the opinion of the permanent monitoring team and the delegate comptroller's office for the Infrastructure Sector, this is the most important point of the Mocoa Reconstruction Program. They argue that this work seeks to protect the lives of citizens, since robust channeling and energy dissipation structures can minimize the risk of sudden increases and massive overflows.

With regard to infrastructure, the housing reconstruction plan is of particular concern. We must remember the existence of the SAUCES II project, which has to do with the delivery of 909 single-family homes, of which none have been delivered to this date.

As for the aqueduct, the Comptroller's Office verified a late delivery of designs and other products subject to the consultancy. In addition, the possibility of choosing another source of water catchment to supply the municipal aqueduct was not studied in depth, therefore, since the mouth in the Mulato River was preserved, the risks of being affected by floods and avalanches persist.

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