ISSN: 2173-8254

Nº 27 December 2024

Servicios Garantizados (SEMUGs) de Providencia: Neo municipalismo responsable versus re-centralización

Author/s: Esteban Valenzuela Van Treek

Decentralization in the Continent is difficult because local administrations are associated to scandals, poor services and impunity for local officials that violate laws. The only option to avoid re-centralizantion is matching more local power with better municipal services with citizen accountability. The article explains the results of the first pilot in the municipality of Providencia of a twelve pack guaranteed municipal services, which seeks to provide a new municipalism responsible for citizen and with verifiable services legitimizing greater subnational finance control. Such systems have been explored in Bogota and Curitiba, still common in Anglo-Saxon and European countries since the 1970s, while Latin America is lagging indicators in system monitoring and enforcement. Providence Case is a paradigm for the municipalities of consolidated urban areas where 70% of Chileans live.