International • • • 🌿 Progressive

Obreros con cascos trabajan en andamios en la reconstrucción de edificios residenciales dañados
Imagen alusiva: trabajos de reconstrucción en edificios residenciales dañados. · EPM

Rebuilding Cali will center on housing, families and income protection

Mayor Alejandro Eder said rebuilding Cali will require an exceptional financing effort centered on housing.

--- The context --- The August earthquake left Cali facing a reconstruction effort that is only beginning, after the search and rescue stage. According to Mayor Alejandro Eder, who spoke in a public interview, the immediate priority is for families to be able to rebuild their lives and have a place to live again, with special attention for those who lost their homes. --- The facts --- Eder estimated that the process will take years and require an exceptional financing effort that exceeds the city regular resources. Around 700 families lost their housing because the buildings where they lived collapsed or must be demolished, and the Mayor Office has already delivered 15 donated apartments to people with serious injuries, as an early step in the housing response. The administration is working to benefit another 400 families, including relatives of fatal victims and owners who lost their homes, and expects the earliest deliveries to begin in November. The municipality will contribute 50 million pesos per family and, in the most extreme cases, a support fund will provide close to 159 million. The city has around 1,800 new homes available, and national resources, insurance and contributions from owners help complete the payment. Close to 70 percent of those affected belong to middle income strata, according to Eder, who said indirectly that they will not be left alone and that his main focus is solving the housing problem. The Mayor Office is also attending to heavily hit neighborhoods where many older residents live and who, as the mayor recounted indirectly, worked their whole lives and lost their patrimony overnight. --- The positions --- Eder indirectly highlighted the joint work with the national Government and the support received during the emergency, and he contrasted that response with that of the previous administration, always according to his own assessment. He also attributed a central role to the private sector in reviewing towers, supporting schools and backing hospitals. On legal and fiscal matters, the mayor indirectly expressed his support for security and financing instruments conditioned, as he put it, on protecting lower income households and reducing public spending. --- What remains unknown --- It is still unclear how the gap between the estimated cost of reconstruction and the resources available in each budget period will be closed, or at what pace housing will reach each affected family. The full calendar of demolitions, building reviews and service recovery in the hardest hit neighborhoods is also unknown, as is the detail of how older people and households with serious injuries will be prioritized. --- Unanswered questions --- When will each of the 700 families that lost their housing receive a home? Will municipal contributions and complementary support be enough to cover the real cost of each housing solution? How will the income of households with fewer resources be protected while the reconstruction of the city moves forward? --- EPM analysis --- The social dimension of the plan lies in housing: without a safe roof there is no full return to school, to work or to neighborhood life. Reactivating events, local commerce and the recovery of roads, schools and hospitals are part of that same effort, because a city that recovers its spaces also recovers employment, services and trust for its families. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, rebuilding Cali should be measured by how quickly each family regains a safe and stable home. The estimated cost of 10 trillion pesos (10 billones de pesos) shows the scale of the effort, but the decisive test will be protecting lower income households, supporting older residents who lost their savings and ensuring that help arrives without unjustified delays. If financing combines national resources, insurance and private contributions under clear rules and public oversight, the city can turn the solidarity shown during the emergency into a lasting recovery, neighborhood by neighborhood, with dignity for those who lost everything.
📤 Share on Telegram

¿Te gustó este artículo? Recibe cobertura global en tu correo.

Suscríbete gratis / Subscribe free