Novo marco legal do saneamento: uma análise das inovações à luz da lei no 14.026/2020

Abstract

In the context of the opening of the sanitation sector to private capital, an agenda inserted within the neoliberal thinking that guides the construction of public policies by the federal government since 2016, it is noted that Law No. 14,026/2020 represented a wide reform in the sector when determining a series of facilities for the concession of services by their owners to private agents. In view of this situation, the present work seeks to discuss the pertinent changes made by the aforementioned legislation, specifically the changes in the form of service provision and the changes in the competences of the National Water and Basic Sanitation Agency - ANA, which now has regulatory competence for the sanitation sector. To this end, this research analyzes the history of the national sanitation sector, the way in which competences were shared, the relevant legislative changes and possible solutions to the conflict between privatization and tariff increases. From this scenario, it is concluded that (i) the referred legislation facilitates the entry of private players in the sector, however it demands the creation of more rigid and feasible rules to be established in the new service concession contracts; (ii) privatization “per se” is not essentially bad for society, as demonstrated. In the water sector in Colombia, it has brought an improvement in general health levels, however the increase in tariff prices that comes from this process makes them extremely unpopular in the face of time-consuming advance of services.