The delegation representing the government of Maximiliano Pullaro expressed the priorities in terms of work needs that Santa Fe has, starting with the maintenance of national routes and another list of works that have been abandoned due to lack of national investment.
The meeting was valued as “very productive”, and the Secretary of Public Works of the Nation, Luis Giovani, participated; the head of Enhosa (National Entity for Water and Sanitation Works), Bartolomé Heredia; the national director of Roads, Raúl Bértola and staff from the Secretariat of Water Resources of the Nation. On behalf of the Santa Fe Government, the Minister of Public Works, Lisandro Enrico, was present; the secretary general of the ministry, Marcos Renna; the Secretary of Public Works, Marcelo Pascualón; the provincial administrator of Roads, Pablo Seghezzo; the director of Provincial Roads, Javier Picinato; the Secretary of Water Resources, Nicolás Mijich; and the Secretary of Water and Sanitation, Leonel Marmiroli.
Works agreement
Enrico reported that “the meeting leaves a positive balance. It was agreed that the national government would resume a series of works, such as the repair of routes, and would also resume the completion and expansion of the drinking water plant in the city of Santa Fe, the expansion of the Granadero Baigorria drinking water plant in Rosario, and the completion of the sewage treatment plant in the city of Rafaela, in addition to the completion works of the El Saladillo waterfall in Rosario.”
“At the same time, on our part we have transmitted the good disposition of Governor Maximiliano Pullaro and we made ourselves available to face the completion of some unfinished national works, such as the completion of nine childhood centers (CDI), the completion of some 180 homes national, water defense works and part of the El Saladillo waterfall bridge work, among other relevant ones that require reactivation because Santa Fe needs them. Unfortunately, the situation is complex, and without our help, these works will not be able to be completed because the Nation’s efforts today are destined for other objectives. For this reason, we have expressed the commitment of our governor and the decision to want to help,” said the minister.
The challenge of national routes
In relation to one of the most outstanding topics addressed, Enrico indicated: “The dialogue table was left open to continue finding points of agreement. As the next step, an agreement will be drawn up between both jurisdictions, and we also devoted several minutes of the meeting to the current state of national routes. Our request was taken by the Nation, and progress would be made with repairs on routes 9 and 34, and the Province requested that routes 33, 11 and 178 also be incorporated among the priorities to intervene.”
There was also an important section regarding the situation of access to ports. Here the proposal of Maximiliano Pullaro’s team was to have a single zone and maintenance scheme, which consists of carrying out a maintenance policy for all port accesses near Rosario, both national and provincial routes, in the same concession and maintenance scheme. . More than 70% of the country’s agricultural production leaves through the ports of Santa Fe and the lack of a work and maintenance scheme for the corridors and routes makes the situation unsustainable. That is why the Santa Fe government proposes a new joint work project; a concession and maintenance scheme.
Joint management
Finally, Enrico showed optimism: “The relationship between the public works areas of the Nation and the Province has been very good from the beginning, and in each meeting it has matured with coincidences. This is the fifth meeting that we have held with a degree of progress.”
“We are always well received by the national authorities and Santa Fe is the most advanced province in the search for alternatives to the public works redirection scheme. In this context, Santa Fe would be the first province that would sign an agreement with the Nation to enable the continuity of certain works, a fact of joint management that would provide good results for the people of Santa Fe in the coming months,” he concluded.
