Mariano Mirotti, secretary of concessions of the Ministry of Infrastructure of the Nation, confirmed that the government of Javier Milei will call for a broad international tender to concession the dredging and marking of the waterway, although he clarified that it is not defined under what conditions the section will include navigation of ships from Santa Fe to Timbúes, or if it will divide the section for barges from the provincial capital to the north.
When El Litoral asked him about what the central government will do with the Paraná trunk navigable canal, the official responded: “Fundamentally the same as in the rest of the economic infrastructure in Argentina: we are going to turn to the private sector to move forward.” investments in concessional contractual schemes. It is the decision that the national government has made even before taking office, that it was going to advance along this path. And the trunk waterway is going to be part of this philosophy of how to carry out this infrastructure.
“We have put together the work teams together with the chief of staff and the transportation secretary, at the same time that we are in conversations with the actors in the sector, in such a way as to be able to respond with the project that we definitely assume for the contracting and the call to tender, which in some way responds to the needs of Argentine producers and exporters,” said the official, in clear reference to contacts with the Rosario Stock Exchange and the private ports of southern Santa Fe, as well as with officials of the province.
Asked if the study carried out by the Faculty of Engineering and Water Sciences of the UNL is in the hands of the central government, to establish the parameters of the bidding document, he pointed out that “we are receiving studies from all the sources that have participated and we have the technical teams analyzing them, to make a decision on the matter”. The central government has not yet finished paying for the studies, while private ports in southern Santa Fe are financing the updating of a report that focuses its vision on the stretch from Timbúes to the Ocean.
Later, regarding the hiring of engineers from the United States Army (they dredged the Mississippi) to advise the General Administration of Ports – today in charge of maintaining the navigable waterway – Mirotti was laconic when responding that “I have no comments to the regard”.
Regarding Chinese participation in the eventual call for tenders – pressure from Washington has been suggested so that Beijing does not play a leading role – the national official ratified an “international tender for the participation of different companies interested in helping us to have a VNT under the conditions in that we need it. It is part of one of the objectives.
Regarding the inclusion in the tender of the navigation section from Santa Fe to the north – it is used by barges or feeder vessels – Mirotti clarified that “it is one of the decisions we have to make, we are analyzing it. We know that it is a different nature , which is not the same job. We will try to find the most economical and competitive solution for the Argentine economy.”
Does Santa Fe participate?
“We need routes to transport our production and reduce logistics costs” and “discuss what Argentina’s production model is,” said Maximiliano Pullaro. And he added later: “we want to discuss the Waterway because it is appropriate. Santa Fe must be a main and preponderant actor in that discussion. We are the Paraná River in addition to the countryside and the industry; we want to discuss the role of our river in a development framework , along with the role of ports and transversal routes”.
The Pullaro government has had contacts with national authorities to define strategies regarding routes and access to the ports of southern Santa Fe, but there is still no clear definition on the role of the port of Santa Fe, of the waterway from Timbúes to the provincial capital or the infrastructure of the provincial center-north. The governor formulated the claims for participation in the Rosario Stock Exchange, in the presence of Pablo Martín Piccirilli, Undersecretary of Ports and Navigable Waterways of the Nation and Mariano Mirotti, Secretary of Concessions of the Ministry of Infrastructure of the Nation.
See alsoThe “river truck”: like the “milk truck”, but on the river “Santa Fe has to be involved in the waterway debate, it has to work together with the provinces that we want to move Argentina forward; we do not demand social plans from the national state. We demand resources to invest in infrastructure that will impact growing”.
The Santa Fe president made his claim a few hours after – by Resolution 20/24 – the head of the State Property Administration Agency, Nicolás Pakgojz, ordered that the Laprida and Santa Fe building, in Rosario, where the waterway control entity was going to operate. The waterway remains in the hands of the intervened General Administration of Ports; under the Milei government, it has just hired the camper José Beni, a close associate of Máximo Kirchner who commanded the AGP during Sergio Massa’s ministry in Economy.
