Congress: Fuerza Popular blocks law that regulated works by direct administration

The Executive Branch promulgated this Tuesday, October 17, the repeal of the Law 31876which regulated the process of execution of works by direct administration at the national level, which had been promulgated just three weeks ago.

What happened? Law 31876, promoted by Congress itself in 2022, prevented regional and local governments from executing works by direct administration that exceed 50 UIT, an amount close to S/250,000. If they exceeded the amount, the works had to be delivered to private parties.

It also prohibited them from acquiring, under any form, machinery and equipment charged to the construction budget. The idea was to make public works processes transparent, in addition to easing the work of the Comptroller’s Office.

Of course, the governors did not like this. The National Association of Regional Governments (ANGR) He immediately came out to denounce that the new device represented “a clear obstruction to decentralization” in our country.

But what exactly is direct administration? It is a type of public works with which subnational governments carry out projects using their own machinery and hiring personnel at their discretion.

This modality, questioned for lending itself to corruption and inefficient execution of public infrastructure, was regulated only by a resolution of the Comptroller’s Office dating from 1988.

Comptroller’s Office: public works by direct administration is inefficient

For example, a button. Between 2018 and 2021, 58,212 investment projects were executed. Of them, 24,175 (42%) correspond to direct administration, according to data from the Comptroller’s Office itself.

However, 27% of the investments by direct administration at that same time had more than three years of execution, a time longer than the period provided for in the technical file.

In December 2021, the controlling body itself requested a modification of the regulatory framework. By July 2022, approval was already obtained in the Plenary Session, after going through the Economy Commission. However, the Law 31876 It was only enacted in September 2023, although in vain.

The tenor of governors who paraded towards the Congress of the Republic was welcomed by Fuerza Popular (among other parties), which presented, through Congresswoman Patricia Juárez, the bill for its repeal, which was debated and approved in record time.

Thus, the country will be left without a norm that sought “honest, transparent, efficient and effective use of the resources and assets of the State, allowing the institutional objectives of the entities and the public purposes for which the public works are planned to be met.” “, as stated by the Comptroller’s Office.