Entre o claro e o escuro: a compreensão do processo de descentralização da política de iluminação pública no município de Formiga, Minas Gerais

Abstract

The 1988 Constitution represented a milestone in the resumption of the federative pact and the redemocratization of the Brazilian state. Due to this, the constitutional text acquired a decentralizing character, recognizing the autonomy of the municipalities and to approach the decision making process of the administered ones. As a result, a number of public policies have been decentralized to subnational entities since the 1990s, whether urban, housing or sanitation, or social, such as health and education. Recently, due to changes in the electricity sector, services related to the Public Lighting Policy ceased to be the responsibility of electric power concessionaires and became a municipal charge through the transfer o f public lighting assets, as recommended by ANEEL Resolution 414/2010. And although this public service does not have a broad social repercussion as in the case of other policies, it is present in all Brazilian municipalities, being important for promoting the beautification of cities and people safety. Thus, due to the importance and the little discussion on the subject, and considering elements of different natures that involve the policy decentralization, it is questioned: how the decentralization process of public lighting policy is being implemented in the municipality of Formiga, Minas Gerais? To answer this question, in this work it was sought to understand the decentralization process of the public lighting policy in order to identify the differences and similarities with the process of other public policies that already have a decentralization trajectory and how this process has been experienced by the municipality of Formiga, Minas Gerais. For this, the referential approaches the relations between the decentralization and the subjects: public policy, federalism and municipality in its first subsection. The second subsection addresses the decentralization of urban and social policies. From the theoretical reference, categories relevant to understanding the process were defined, such as: the financing form, incentives for decentralization, institutional arrangements for implementation and elaboration of rules, the set of actors involved, participation and control by civil society. In addition to the bibliographic research, the present study carried out a case study, through interviews and documentary analysis. It was concluded that the decentralization process of public lighting occurred in a different way from what happened with other policies, being implemented compulsorily, without democratic motivation and without financial support from the Union and the States. The service, therefore, represented a new charge, for which the city halls were not prepared, so that brought damage to the municipality and the population. And in order to meet the demands of citizens, it is necessary for the municipality to present administrative capacity for its management. In this case, in future, it may add positive factors to the local population, as regards quality in t he provision of public service.