The Politics of Local Service Delivery: Bogotá

Mauricio Cárdenas

Political Economy of Service DeliveryJoint Seminar of the IDB and the World

BankJune 2-3, 2005

Washington, DC

Agenda

• Bogotá in the 80’s

• Institutional Changes

• A decade of transformations (1994-2004)

• 100% owned by the municipality• Low quality services • No clear framework for regulation

and quality supervision• Structural financial imbalances• Financial support from the central

government

Public utilities in the 1980s

Public transport system• High congestion in spite of low car ownership (131

per 1000 pop. vs. 300 in Curitiba) • Simultaneous provision and ownership by the state

and the private sector, until the mid-1980s. • The average speed was 10 kilometers per hour (5

km/hour at peak hours) (Chaparro, 2002). • Mean travel time was 66.8 minutes for public

transport users and 42.6 minutes for car owners (Lleras, 2003).

• The public transit system a was characterized by excess supply of usually empty and slow running buses, low quality service, and inefficiency.

• 70% of air pollution was generated by traffic, and accidents were frequent.

Policy failure:Free affiliating privileges and

periodic fare negotiations with a cartel

250

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

650

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005

YEAR

AV

ER

AG

E O

CC

UP

AN

CY

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

FA

RE

19

99

US

D C

EN

TS

PASSANGERS PER VEHICLE FARE 1999 USD CENTS

Limited progress in education

64%

93%

49%

36%

19%

72%

69%

29%

0% 50% 100%

Preeschool(5-6)

ElementarySchool (7-11)

High School(12-17)

UdergraduatePrograms(18-24)

19731985

* Number of persons enrolled over total population of respective agesSource: Development Local Plan (1987-1990)

100

150

200

250

300

350

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1986

1987

1988

1989

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Elementary School (7-11) High School (12-17)

Preeschool (5-6)(rhs)

Thousands of students enrolled

Enrollment Rates*

1991 Constitution: First Step

• A new system of fiscal transfers to the departments and municipalities

• Greater fiscal decentralization • Redefinition of the role of the government

in regards to public services: regulation vs. provision

• The political and administrative organization of the capital district was to be reformed by law.

• Enhanced decentralization at local level and introduced greater taxation autonomy

• Public utilities changed from“Public Establishments” to “Industrial and Commercial Companies”

• Fiscal Autonomy • More accountability in the head of the manager• Appointment of board members:

– 2/3 by the Major and – 1/3 are conformed by users and unions

representatives. The Council cannot appoint any member

• The Board should only intervene in the policy guidance of the company

Congress did not enact it, and the executive used special

legislative powers (decree 1421 of 1993 Decree)

Political variability, policy stability

• Jaime Castro (Liberal Party) • Antanas Mockus (Independent)• Enrique Peñalosa (Liberal /

Independent)• Antanas Mockus (Independent)• Luis Eduardo Garzón (PDI, former

labor leader).

Perception of improvements

Increased; 52%Remain

equal; 38%

Decreased; 2%

N/A; 8%

Source: Superintendence de Services-Centro Nacional de Consultoría

In the last ten years (94-04) public services coverage in your neighborhood

Transmilenio´s wide access

Transmilenio covers 85% of the urban area

Source: Transmilenio S.A and Consorcio Rothschild-Louis Berger-Selfinver

Metro´s coverage would had been only 8%

Public School access increased

87.8%

90.4%

88.8%88.3%

89.6%

90.6%91.1%

89.3%

86%

87%

88%

89%

90%

91%

92%

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

*Number of persons who attended to classes between 5-15 years old over total population between 5-15 years old

Source: DNP

0500

1,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,000

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

650

700

Elementary School (7-11) High School (12-17)

Preeschool (5-6)(rhs)

Thousands of students enrolled

School Attendance Rate*

Security in Bogotá

1400

1500

1600

1700

1800

1900

2000

2100

2200

2300

2400

2000 20001 2002 2003 20044000

4500

5000

5500

6000

6500

7000

7500

8000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Homicide Holdup

4000

4500

5000

5500

6000

6500

7000

7500

8000

8500

9000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Cars robbery

Source: Observatorio de la Seguridad en Bogotá -CCB

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Kidnappings

And, fiscal conditions improved in the second half

of the nineties

-300.000

-250.000

-200.000

-150.000

-100.000

-50.000

0

50.000

100.000

150.000

200.000

250.000

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

Central Administration Balance

Source: Ingresos y gastos municipales 1984-2000 Contraloría Genral de la República and author calculations

Millions of Pesos of 2003

Outer features of public policies

Stability vs. volatility Adaptability vs. rigidityCoordination / coherenceInvestment related qualities / capacitiesPublic vs. private regardedness

At the city level, a transformation took place in favor of stable, coherent, and publicly regarded policies.

Why? Political institutions or other factors?

Public Services Development in Bogotá

Mauricio CárdenasWashington, June 2005