Spending on suspended works in Pernambuco totals R$1.8 billion, points out TCE-PE: Nill Junior

A survey by the State Court of Auditors (TCE-PE) revealed expenditure, in 2023, of R$1.8 billion on public works that were stopped or showed signs of being stopped in Pernambuco. The amount already paid corresponds to 31% of the total of frozen contracts (R$5.9 billion), and 9% of everything committed to public contracts in the year (R$19.3 billion).

The TCE-PE identified 1,504 contracts without completion, with 462 declared paralyzed by the public managers themselves, and 1,042 with signs of paralysis or abandonment, that is, with negligible disbursements (less than 15% of the total value of the contract) in 2022.

The most affected areas were urban mobility (23.4% of the total); water supply services (11.1%); and dams (8.6%).

Of the frozen contracts, 1,185 are municipal and 319 are state.

STATE – Among the unfinished state works with the largest volume of resources contributed are those on the North-South and East-West corridors, under the responsibility of the Pernambuco Department of Urban Development and Housing. In the first, R$161.8 million were spent (the contract is for R$186.6 million); in the second, the amount invested was R$136.3 million (contract worth R$168.7 million). According to initial planning, these works should have been completed in May 2013.

Work on the so-called “dam belt”, designed to reduce the risk of flooding in Mata Sul, showed signs of being halted. In the Igarapeba dam, in São Benedito do Sul, scheduled for delivery in March 2014, the State has already invested R$53.7 million (contract worth R$136.1 million). And in Barra de Guabiraba, in the municipality of the same name, also scheduled for March 2014, R$16.6 million has already been spent (contract worth R$61.1 million).

MUNICIPALITIES – Among municipal works, Recife appears in first place, both in contracted values ​​(R$726.7 million) and in amounts already paid (R$216.5 million). One of the contracts with signs of a standstill, worth R$39.1 million, is the implementation of exclusive bus lanes. Of this total, R$19.9 million has already been executed.

In Cabo de Santo Agostinho, the second municipality in terms of amounts already disbursed through frozen contracts, the urbanization works for the Nova Era community and the sewage system for the Manoel Vigia community should have been completed 10 years ago. Of the R$32 million foreseen in the contract, R$19.5 million has already been paid.

Flaws in the project, selection of suppliers and inspection by contractors are among the main reasons to justify the stoppage of these works.

If the TCE-PE finds that the strike is due to serious irregularities, the manager responsible may have his accounts rejected, be fined, and reimburse the public coffers, if damage to the public treasury is proven. If there is evidence of criminal offense or impropriety, the case will be forwarded to the Public Ministry of Pernambuco.

HISTORICAL SERIES – In 2022, frozen contracts totaled R$7.4 billion, of which 33% (R$2.4 billion) had already been spent without completing the services. In the 2023 survey, the volume paid fell by 8%. The number of contracts in this situation fell from 1,796 thousand, in 2022, to 1,504 thousand in 2023, which represents a drop of 16.7%.

TCE-PE began carrying out the survey in 2014. The objective, according to President Valdecir Pascoal, is to promote transparency and social control. “It is our vocation, as a control body, to encourage citizen participation,” he said.

UNDERSTAND – The data was collected from the 2022 Annual Accounts Work Maps, sent by managers, information from the Tome Conta portal, and inspections carried out by the TCE-PE audit team. The situation was confirmed through letters sent to managers, who were able to express themselves, justify the reasons for the strike and inform the measures adopted for its resumption.

“When management pays less than 15% of the contract value over an entire financial year, for example, it is estimated that the project will take more than six years to complete. TCE-PE will continue to monitor the actions of managers to complete all works”, explains auditor Alfredo Montezuma, supervisor of the study.

Check the current panel of suspended works and the results of previous surveys.

Look here the list of works stopped in your municipality and in the State.