Asunción Municipality: Codeasu proposes institutional reform

With municipal elections just under three months away, the Development Council of Asunción (Codeasu) is advocating for a significant institutional reform to rescue the Asunción Municipality from its current crisis of inefficiency and corruption.

According to Gonzalo Garay, the council's technical advisor, this reform is an urgent national cause. He believes the transformation should go beyond physical infrastructure to include modernizing management. This, he argues, will necessitate amending the Organic Municipal Law to reposition the municipality as a catalyst for Asunción's sustainable development.

Codeasu's diagnosis points to a severely overstaffed municipal structure, with over 9,119 employees on the payroll, as revealed by the city's interim administrator. Garay contends that a leaner workforce of around 2,000 well-selected, trained, and motivated individuals would suffice for efficient operation. Currently, over 90% of the municipality's revenue is allocated to maintaining this bloated payroll, leaving minimal funds for essential infrastructure projects like roads, drainage, or basic public services.

Furthermore, Codeasu estimates that actual revenue collection is only at 50% of its potential due to outdated cadastral records and weak collection management. To overcome bureaucratic hurdles, the proposed reform includes establishing specialized bodies with autonomy to manage complex projects, such as the Coastal Strip, thereby preventing political shifts from halting progress. The plan also envisions creating public interest entities, like an Urban Development Agency focused on revitalizing the historic center.

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This profound transformation should not be limited to physical works, but should include the modernization of management, which will inevitably require the modification of the Organic Municipal Law, to make the Municipality the engine of sustainable development of Asunción.