The Municipal Water and Sanitation Board (JMAS) had an overdue portfolio of approximately 5 billion pesos until last month, the decentralized agency announced.
He added that there are 90,000 accounts of delinquent users that account for this debt, of which 20 percent was recovered through regularization, agreements and new contracts.
He reported that there were 17 thousand new accounts of users who previously connected clandestinely or had a fixed rate, which increased the service registry in the city from 480 thousand to 497 thousand.
This increase in bills was also reflected in an improvement in collection efficiency, which rose from 62 to 75 percent, JMAS said.
The Board faced an accumulated debt of five billion pesos, part of which was considered uncollectible due to the nonexistence of the debtors or the assets associated with the debt.
The JMAS also identified certain public markets as large debtors. Despite the lack of a detailed document on the exact debt, the Board declared its intention to negotiate with these markets.
Plans include starting negotiations in the next two weeks and, if an agreement on the payments owed is not reached, service cuts could be implemented.
JMAS has prepared its commercial team to handle these negotiations. Previously, actions were limited due to the reduced number of staff dedicated to this type of activities.
Now, with a more prepared team, the Board sought to negotiate with the markets to review their facilities, install new meters if necessary and raise awareness among the owners about the amount they owed and the possible discount options to regularize their situation.
The administration stressed that the responsibility to pay for water should not vary among users. The Board sought to ensure that all users, including markets and other municipal entities, fulfilled their obligations to maintain equity in the provision of services and protect the finite resource offered to citizens.
This means that businesses operating in the markets are not exempt from the obligation to pay for the water they used, since non-payment by these users could negatively affect the Board’s ability to provide services to other citizens.
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