At this time, the Bogotá Council, in compliance with resolution 0188 of 2022, is advancing the public hearing that is part of the process that will allow the integration of the city, to what is called the Metropolitan Region of Bogotá - Cundinamarca, RMBC.
Secretary of Government Felipe Jiménez Ángel explained to Infobae that: “In recent days the mayor's office settled in the Bogotá Council, the project for Bogotá to enter the Metropolitan Region, we are in the stage of public hearings demanded by the law and we hope that by the end of next week we will have good news for the city”.
What is the Metropolitan Region of Bogotá?
It is basically a model that will allow the association of the capital district with the municipalities and the governorate of Cundinamarca. This was enshrined in article 325 of the Political Constitution. This project seeks to articulate public policy decisions with the region, which will more efficiently manage public and private resources in territorial, environmental, economic, mobility and public services aspects.
Secretary Jiménez adds that another reason is that each municipality has its own clear powers, so that their autonomy will not be violated.
The official assured that it is not yet defined whether all the municipalities of the department will integrate that region, or, if only a few, that will depend on the formal linkage of the Metropolitan Region. This will determine the linkage of municipalities progressively.
The district expects in the middle of the year the process to be formalized, so that during the second half of the year the project will be launched; it seeks to take forward several issues that have been budgeted for. This procedure will depend on the installation of the Regional Council, requested by law, which will allow the municipalities to join.
which the Secretary assures, will benefit from the Metropolitan Region.
These statements coincide with those of Mayor Claudia López who pointed out that this process is a “historic debt” owed to the department:
The figures that the district has is that 10 million people live in this region, almost 20% of the population of Colombia; they indicate that 30% of the country's wealth is produced, 20 million tons of food are produced, 19 million daily trips are made within it. This is why we are looking to start quickly with the initiative, in order to promote several projects to benefit this “agreement”.
Despite the fact that the Bogotá - Metropolitan Region project is closer to being a fact and not a mere proposal, the City Council established a guardianship that seeks to stop the initiative. The councillor for the Green Alliance, Luis Carlos Leal, proposes a judicial action that avoids discussing this, due to possible irregularities in the proceedings.
It ensures that issues related to the metropolitan area must be handled by the Land Management Plan commission, since it manages environmental assets and land use planning, it is worth repeating. This commission determines whether or not you can associate other entities. The councillor assured W Radio that he opposes the project because of the way it is constituted, since it removes possibilities for citizen participation, since the mayors and the governor are the ones who will make the decisions.
Faced with this action, Infobae asked about these 'obstacles' that could slow down the development of the project, the secretary of government replied: “we are sure that the entire procedure within the council has had all the legitimacy and legality required by law; we are convinced that we have made no mistake, nowhere” .
The intention will be to carry out actions in 5 different fields, the first being with public transport because in addition to the daily trips estimated earlier, figures show that 2.6 million of these routes correspond to transfers between Bogotá and Cundinamarca, in addition, another 5.3 routes are made by public transport. However, the current times mean that on average people take 1 hour and 42 minutes only in the way, so that a day means 3 and a half hours that citizens invest only in mobility. “It is unheard of for people to delay 3 or 4 hours in their travel time, that story has to end”, what is proposed is to create a multimodal system, driven by “clean energy”, that will connect Bogotá with the region. This aims to reduce travel times, unify fares and improve the conditions of the inhabitants.
The second is to take into account rurality, a difference with metropolitan areas, since these are the union of cities, while the region is the whole of rural and urban, explained the official, which will create opportunities for farmers, seeking to have better prices in the products sold, along with all production chains that derive from these activities.
Another important point, which would be the third aspect, is security.
As a fourth point to develop, productivity is discussed; in this sense, it seeks to improve logistics chains, planning instruments and cargo transport, in order to enhance them and benefit the trade sector.
Finally, it seeks to protect the environment.
Jimenez said.
It concluded,
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