The next four months are critical for the remainder of Aquiles Alvarez’s term as mayor of Guayaquil. From this month of July and until October, the planning process of the municipality of Guayaquil for 2024 must be carried out, as well as the Land Development and Planning Plan for the rest of the government period until 2027. Here it will be seen that the model of the government is very different from that of its predecessors.

This entire process is regulated by the Organic Code of Spatial Planning and the Code of Public Planning and Finance, as well as the Law on Citizen Participation and the Regulation on Citizen Participation of Guayaquil. In this way, after the new regulation of the new administrative management model of Guayaquil has already been approved, which is an interesting achievement, it is important to invite all bases and social, economic and academic organizations to register and leave their interest in participating in this process.

In this month of July, according to the law, there will be the first assessment of how much municipal income the municipalities will dispose of for the year 2024. With this data, the race begins to create the municipal budget, as well as its programs and projects, which must be implemented through participatory workshops where citizens discuss and think about their realities, problems and abilities to propose interventions, management and alternative solutions.

This process can already be carried out taking into account 19 urban districts plus 5 rural parishes, in order to think and decide on public investments in an equitable way with a territorial and thematic basis. In this way, ideas and prioritization of projects and budgets can have greater relevance and knowledge of the cause. For this, a structure of city councils and communal houses is necessary for the implementation of participatory work from the bottom up. On the other hand, digital tools and virtual meetings can facilitate the participation of a larger number of people and thus expand the reach and appeal of participatory planning.

In addition, at the institutional level, the Cantonal Planning Council, the Department of Public Relations and the Department of Urbanism, Planning and Spatial Planning must lead this process so that, when the Cantonal Assembly for Citizens’ Participation comes, it does not happen as it has for years. past, in which (very) few people knew how the budget and municipal planning of Guayaquil were prepared.

This year, for the first time in its history, civil society will carry out civil oversight to monitor the planning and participatory budgeting process in Guayaquil. For eight months, he will be in charge of monitoring the activities that the municipal authorities will implement during this year in connection with the preparation of Guayaquil’s planning and budget. There you will see whether the Civic Office of the Mayor is real or just an empty slogan. (OR)