Antanas
Mockus |
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Bogota:
Harmony and Chaos
By María Isabel García*
The
mayor of the Colombian capital, Antanas Mockus, outlines the
achievements of his environmental policy in a Tierramérica interview |
BOGOTA - The philosopher and mathematician
Antanas Mockus Cívicas, son of Lithuanian immigrants, is in his
second three-year term as mayor of the Colombian capital.
Mockus, 48, known for his irreverence
and his unique grasp of ritual and spectacle, left the rectorship
of the National University of Colombia for the political sphere,
and in 1995 was elected mayor of Bogota for the first time.
The politician caused some surprise when
he held his wedding in a circus tent surrounded by tigers, but the
biggest shock was when he resigned from his post as mayor in order
to join Noemí Sanín as her running-mate in her bid for the presidency
in 1998, which she lost to current President Andrés Pastrana.
But despite his topsy-turvy public image,
even his detractors give Mockus credit for introducing the concept
of citizen culture into public administration.
P- In a country enduring such an acute civil conflict, it is
somewhat surprising that Bogota is showing signs of recovery.
R - The last four administrations have
known how to value what their predecessors built and accept strict
parameters, for example, in the area of fiscal discipline. In addition,
Bogota is known for being a city where people vote their conscience.
P - Every year, more than 100,000
immigrants arrive in Bogota, many of who are displaced by violence
in the countryside. Some ''pessimistic ecologists'' say that this
will lead to severe environmental threats throughout the next decade.
R - There is competition between the
city that grows in a disorderly way and the one that grows in an
orderly way. I hope to favor, through various means - education,
culture, autonomy and resource designation - orderly growth. I see
Bogota as a city condemned to have a very conscious relationship
between order and disorder.
P - Bogota follows Mexico, Santiago
and Sao Paulo among the most polluted cities of Latin America.
R - Bogota is experiencing an important
transition as far as atmospheric pollution as a result of changes
toward more modern transportation systems, the 'transmilenio' (an
integrated mass transit system with lanes designated exclusively
for public transportation). This is an impressive gamble in environmental
terms. Of 250 buses involved in the first phase, 90 are to be run
on natural gas. The others on diesel, but with the latest European
environmental quality standards. We hope that by the end of our
government we will have expanded from 11 to 25 percent of all public
transportation trips using this system.
P - What weight will clean
production have in the city's plan to maintain competition? Will
there be incentives, sanctions?
R -We will reinforce the plan with the
business community, in other words, provide consulting and subsidized
credit for the conversion of industrial plants. It is essential
to promote cooperation among businesses so that each one is not
isolated with its own environmental problem, but rather conduct
plans by neighborhood, by district, in order to achieve economy-of-scale
solutions.
P - How much emphasis will be placed
on sewage treatment in the program to clean up the Bogota River,
a 25-year project that includes three waste water treatment plants
at a cost surpassing 150 million dollars?
R - We are in the worst of possible worlds:
a very limited and extremely costly clean up of the Bogota River,
absorbing half of the city's environmental funding. It would be
much more rational now to separate rain run-off from sewage along
the course of the river's tributaries and dedicate the money to
providing the people with sewage systems. But it is already a done
deal (made during the Jaime Castro administration, 1992-1994) and
irreversible. We have to comply with the agreement, and invite other
cities to learn from Bogota's experience: first things first.
P - Will you continue to promote travel
by bicycle?
R - There are 120 km of bicycle routes
now, and we hope to have 220 or 230 km by the end of my administration.
P - What is your definition of 'city'?
R - In the city, a very fertile and respectful
interaction between strangers is possible. For me it is a paradise
where, being anonymous and with space for solitude and personal
autonomy, one has people at hand who know and can contribute different
things. The city is like a dense social weave that facilitates things
that are good for everyone: public space, art, culture, and education.
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