Fundamental to boost economic growth of any country, is the investment in infrastructure. This is a necessary condition to create job, achieve higher levels of wellness and consequently, reduce inequality gaps, who have been the main obstacle for the welfare of popular classes. That is, the development of infrastructure is a necessary and fundamental condition for sustainable development, making us more resilient to natural disasters, increasing productivity and improving the quality of life of citizens, particularly the inhabitants of popular areas, with the access to health services, drinking water, electricity, education, housing, among others.
Unfortunately, the countries of Latin America and Caribbean have a deficit important in this matter. According to data from the ECLAC, In recent years, the annual average investment in infrastructure in Latin America is only 1.8% of GDP, when four times more would be required to close the inequality gap that affects our region. .
But beware, the infrastructure requires maintenance, continuous and permanent. I remember that at the end of the last century the cost of maintenance, maintenance alone, was estimated at around two points of GDP.
We know that maintenance must be permanent, this is continuous, for example only in what refers to the transportation infrastructure in Mexico, the road network had just over 807 thousand km in 2021, 27 thousand km of roads, which implies high costs in its preservation.
To achieve this, it is not only necessary to increase the amount of resources allocated to these projects, strengthen their governance, to ensure good value for money and guarantee accountability, transparency and integrity.
In this scenario, superior auditing can play a major role for governments to improve the levels of investment in infrastructure, such as its quality, avoiding the misuse of resources, preventing corruption risks and making recommendations, through performance audits. , to support the success of the projects, in accordance with the powers granted by their legal and regulatory framework.
Thus, and in harmony with the suggestions and opinions of various international agencies, such as ECLAC, the IDB, the OECD, mainly the Latin American and Caribbean Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS). The latter, in its General Assembly, approved the proposal of the Court of Accounts of the Brazilian Union to create the Working Group for Oversight of Infrastructure Policies and Regulation (GTInfra). Brazil has been a leader on the issue of governance.
The idea is for the OLACEFS member SAIs to work together to improve infrastructure governance in our region, considering their transversal impact and the need to address them from the perspective of evaluating public policies.
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To this end, the infrastructure working group will carry out studies and coordinated superior control work to help promote the harmonic result of infrastructure policies, plans and actions, taking into account local, regional and global opportunity costs, with Emphasis on the energy transition, climate change and its impact on infrastructure, considering integrity, legal certainty, promotion of private investment, in a governance framework.
This will enrich the work that OLACEFS has carried out in recent years to develop capacities and disseminate knowledge and good auditing practices focused on infrastructure.
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He has held various professional and academic positions, including: Head of the Regional Coordination and Institutional Relations Unit of the Federal Authority for the Development of Special Economic Zones, Internal Comptroller, Federal Court of Fiscal and Administrative Justice, Auditor Special of the Federalized Expenditure, in the Superior Audit of the Federation, Head of the Coordination Unit with Federal Entities (of the SHCP Member of the Governing Board of the SAT General Coordinator of the works of the National Treasury Convention carried out in 2004 representing the Secretary of the Treasury Secretary of Finance of Oaxaca President of the National College of Economists Professor of Economic Policy, Public Sector Economics and State Finance at the Faculty of Economics of the UNAM, since 1978. Due to his outstanding experience as a public servant, as well as in the academic field, the Superior Auditor has various publications ones, among which are: Equity and fiscal effort, the Mexican experience (2006) Citizen participation and social control (1994) Fiscal federalism in Mexico 1989-1994 (1994) Social and economic factors of corruption (1993).
Since 1979 he has collaborated for various local and national print media. Currently, he participates with opinion columns in important media such as El Financiero and the weekly Eje Central.
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