The São Paulo Chamber Constitution and Justice Committee gave yesterday (April 25) assent to the bill of the alderman Carlos Apolinário (DEM party), which authorizes the city hall to implement the congestion pricing.
The approval is the first step for the bill to advance in the legislature. It has to go through two committees, two public hearings and two votes in the plenary before going to sanction or veto by the mayor Gilberto Kassab (PSD party).
Yesterday’s approval was strictly legal: CCJ held that there was no illegality or unconstitutionality in the bill, allowing it to follow the proceedings in the House.
Even so, the proposal has dragged on in the committee since July 2010, due to aldermen opposition to a subject they consider bad on the eve of elections.
Yesterday, given the appeal of Apolinário, the bill had five votes in favor, one vote against – from Abou Anni (PV party) – and three abstentions.
The Transportation committee, which is the next committee to evaluate the bill, will effectively enter into the substance of the proposal. The measure remains controversial and it will cause division in the plenary, says Celso Jatene (PTB party), who abstained.
The author himself does not believe in an easy life for the bill in the Chamber. The political class needs votes. If you do a survey, 95% of the population is against it, Apolinário said.
The proposal does not create the collection – which is illegal, since the initiative has to be from the Executive, – but he says the mayor will work for its establishment and creates basic rules: one charge per day and exemption on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
The bill delimits the implantation of the rate to the expanded center, where the road space rationing already exists – which also aims to reduce the circulating fleet and pollution.
Apolinário believes that the toll could generate $1.05 billion in annual revenue, with a rate of around $4. Instead of waiting for better public transport to create the toll, my project first creates a source of funds for investments in metro, trains and buses.
Although the idea has not had prior approval of Kassab, Apolinário has an important ally in city government: the Secretary of Green and Environment, Eduardo Jorge, who in December 2011, published an article in Folha de São Paulo defending the measure.
Jorge says its implementation in cities like London, Stockholm and Singapore has reduced by 15% the movement of vehicles.
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