Pernambuco has 1,500 unfinished works and Recife is the champion in spending on halted construction | Pernambuco

Pernambuco has 1,504 unfinished works that are paralyzed or show signs of abandonment. According to the State Court of Auditors (TCE), there are 319 state government contracts and 1,185 municipal contracts, made by city halls, which were left aside by managers. Recife has the most expensive works (understand below).

The survey was released by the TCE this Thursday (25). The document, which can be accessed on the court’s website, shows that, currently, there are R$5.9 billion in contracts whose work has been halted.

Of this amount, the state and municipalities have already paid R$1.8 billion for the buildings that were abandoned. This corresponds to 31% of the total. The data refers to 2023. The value of frozen contracts is 8% lower than that of 2022, when they were R$7.4 billion.

Of the 1,504 contracts without completion, 462 were declared officially suspended by the managers responsible for the works themselves. Another 1,042 show signs of abandonment.

The areas that concentrate the largest volume of abandoned works are the following:

• Urban mobility: 23.4% of total contracts;
• Water supply services: 11.1%;
• Dams: 8.6%.

Also according to the TCE, at the state level, the abandoned works that received the most money are those on the North-South and East-West BRT corridors, under the responsibility of the Pernambuco Department of Urban Development and Housing. Both should have been completed more than a decade ago, in May 2013.

In the North-South corridor, R$161.8 million were spent, and the contract is worth R$186.6. In East-West, R$136.3 million was invested from a contract worth R$168.7 million.

Other problems were found in the so-called “dam belt” that would serve to reduce the risk of flooding in Zona da Mata Sul:

• In the Igarapeba dam, in São Benedito do Sul, expected to be delivered in March 2014, the state has already invested R$53.7 million. The contract is worth R$136.1 million;
• In Barra de Guabiraba, also scheduled for March 2014, R$16.6 million was spent. The contract is worth R$61.1 million.

Regarding municipal works, Recife has the most expensive abandoned works. There are R$726.7 million in contracts. The capital also has the highest amount ever paid, having transferred R$216.5 million for halted construction.

One of these contracts, worth R$39.1 million, concerns the implementation of exclusive bus lanes. Of this total, R$19.9 million has already been paid.

Next comes Cabo de Santo Agostinho, in the Metropolitan Region, which had the second highest value of paid contracts.

In the city, 10 years ago, the urbanization works for the Nova Era community and the sewage system for the Manoel Vigia community should have been completed. Of the R$32 million provided for in the contract, R$19.5 million has already been paid, but the works have not yet been completed.

Flaws in the design, selection of suppliers and inspection by contractors are among the common reasons for these works to be stopped.

According to the president of the TCE, counselor Valdecir Pascoal, there are R$19.32 billion in works contracted across the state. This means that, of this amount, 30% is paralyzed.

“These are significant values. To give you an idea, there are around R$19 billion and R$6 billion in contracts present problems with work being halted. Of these R$6 billion, R$1.8 billion was paid and the work is not finished. Of course there are problems with management difficulties, but there are also serious irregularities committed”, he declared.

The president of the TCE also stated that, regarding the works, accounting audit processes, called special audits, will be formalized, which analyze each situation in depth. If irregularities are found, managers will be notified to justify the problems and the cases will be judged by the court.

“This decision may result in the acceptance of this justification, but, if it is irregular, the manager may have to return resources to the treasury […]. Companies can also be called upon to reimburse the public treasury, managers can suffer the imposition of fines and also, in very serious cases, with signs of improbity and criminal offenses, we represent the Public Prosecutor’s Office for the purpose of taking appropriate measures in that criminal context. […] This can even lead to the ineligibility of a manager”, he stated.

When contacted, the city hall did not respond about the unfinished works and said that the management has been promoting “an intense pace of works with an average delivery of three of them per day throughout the city”.

He said that, currently, 160 schools and daycare centers are being renovated and there are 50 permanent slopes in progress, in addition to public facilities such as Compaz units, bridges, parks, health and housing units and the Children’s Hospital.

He also stated that since 2021, more than 2,800 works have been completed under the Partnership Program and around 100 definitive containments have been carried out.

“Recife’s city council also confirms that it is attentive to the regulations that govern public contracts to make the city fairer and more dignified for the population,” he said.

The management stated that the works cited by the TCE are part of an agreement started in 2012 that, in 2020, under the previous administration, “had its contract canceled by the mayor at the time”.

“With the entry of the new management, it was necessary to initiate coordination in Brasília, with the Ministry of Cities and Caixa Econômica Federal, to discuss the resumption of works. Only last year, the resumption of works was signaled positively with its inclusion in the PAC (Growth Acceleration Program). To this end, we are in the second stage of the process, which consists of updating projects and budgets, so that services can be tendered again and resumed as soon as possible”, said the city hall.

The government of Pernambuco, in turn, said that completing the four dams is a priority, and that in January a work order was signed for the resumption of the Panelas II dam. “This was the first to be resumed, as it was interrupted in the most advanced state among the four reservoirs that make up the Mata Sul protection belt, with 50% of the work carried out.”

Barragem Gatos has a tender underway to contract for the completion of the work. The Igarapeba and Barra de Guabiraba dams are in the project review stage, to be resumed later.

“All of them are being carried out in partnership with the federal government, through the Ministry of Regional Integration and Development, with resources already guaranteed and approved by the PAC,” said the government.

The government’s forecast is to deliver the four dams by 2026, with the following investments:

• Panelas II: R$77.6 million;
• Cats: R$67.7 million;
• Igarapeba: R$249.7 million;
• Barra de Guabiraba: R$ 145.5 million.

Regarding the North-South Corridor, the government said that works have resumed. He said that, until 2023, “this project was being carried out at a very slow pace” and that, now, “the intervention is more than 80% complete, with R$ 16 million employed in this period and expected to be completed in May 2024”.

The East-West corridor had among its remaining works the urbanization of the area around the Museum and the Abolition Tunnel, which, according to the government, was resolved by the current administration.

Another project planned by the government is the execution of the road infrastructure to implement the block rotation in the vicinity of the Caxangá UPA, in the West Zone, with a value of R$ 3.8 million. It is in progress, with completion scheduled for June 2024.