The federal government published on 12/28/18 new provisional measure No. 868/2018 regarding the structural conditions of basic sanitation in Brazil. This measure alters and expands the competencies of the National Water Agency (ANA), an autarchy that, besides continuing to be responsible for the management of water resources, will also regulate the provision of public basic sanitation services.
Under the new government, the ANA is linked to the Ministry of Regional Development, an agency of the Federal Executive Branch resulting from the merger of the Ministry of National Integration with the Ministry of Cities, and becomes responsible for setting the water tariffs to be charged.
Among the main changes, the measure foresees the possibility of the Federal Government granting budgetary, fiscal or credit benefits or incentives as a counterpart to the attainment of previously established operational performance goals and determines that sanitation contracts will be established by means of a bidding process with a public call for proposals “to verify the interest of the federative entities, in an isolated or consortium regime, in carrying out concessions and public-private partnerships,” thus facilitating the privatization of basic sanitation.
It is evident that the lack of basic sanitation in Brazil brings serious harm to public health and impacts negatively on the socioeconomic conditions of the population. The new provisional measure will foster the sector’s challenges, and this is one of the main challenges of the new government, especially for the new governors, who will have the role of bringing basic sanitation to hundreds of deficit municipalities in the country.