He Néstor Kirchner Gas Pipeline is once again at the center of controversy. This time, the conflict puts the Secretary of Energy of the Nation on one side, Eduardo Rodríguez Chirillo, and from the other to Agustín Gerez, former president of Energía Argentina SA (Enarsa) and reference for the Frente de Todos on energy issues.
The trigger for the controversy was a publication by Chirillo in X (former Twitter), where he made a comparison of the state of construction of the compressor plant Treatyen, before and after the beginning of the administration of the current Government. According to the official, the Milei administration received the work with 38% construction progress, when it should have been at 94%. In addition, he reported a debt of USD 2.5 million to contractors, “prices not updated since March 2023, SIRA’s footprints and 81 days of delay in the delivery of the land.”
Likewise, Chirillo published a second image, with the progress of the work of Salliqueló. Along with the comparative photo, he warned that the Government received the command with 19% construction progress, when it had to be at 100%. To this he added that the contract was about to be terminated and a debt of USD 7 million was accumulating to contractors, plus USD 1.5 million in non-payment for a construction certificate. Once again, he denounced “SIRA’s footprints.”
The former president of Enarsa went out to the Chirillo intersection and denied the information published by the official in relation to Treatyen. “I don’t know if out of malice or ignorance it was announced that theTrayen Compressor Plant was 38% complete in the month of December 2023, perhaps out of interest in misinforming society with erroneous data and graphs or constructed photos that have nothing to do with it.” to do with reality,” Gerez wrote in an open letter.
To justify his position, Gerez shared the image of certificate No. 12 (signed by Enarsa and Sacde) of theTrayén Compressor Plant. “I will briefly tell you that a Works certificate is, as its name says, the measurement of the physical progress that is being achieved by virtue of the work plan presented by the contractor (in this case Sacde). The measurement is certified by YPFwho is in charge of inspecting the work,” he noted.
“Certificate No. 12 has a measurement cutoff on December 20, 2023 and, as you will see, 61.89% progress,” he noted.
“But in order not to raise doubts, I also accompany you with Certificate No. 13 with cut-off on January 20, 2024, already with the management of the current government in charge of the construction of the PCTrayén with 66.78% progress” added the former official. In the aforementioned image, the progress of 66.7% is effectively verified.
“On the other hand, to conclude the matter appropriately, I am also going to leave part of the addendum that the current administration signed on February 26, 2024 (it is attached to the letter) with some details that are interesting,” commented Gerez.
“In the Second Clause where the deadline is established, the parties (that is, the current government and the contractor) agree that the Apt to operate of theTrayén Compressor Plant would be May 22, 2024. The question we must ask ourselves is “If this had been possible, if the compressor plant had been at 38% as stated,” he stressed.
“That is, what they are now going to inaugurate (we hope) on July 9, according to reports, the current government management itself established on February 26, 2024 that the Apt to operate would be on May 24. The delays? We don’t know, those are precisely the explanations that officials should give us instead of distracting us and distributing blame that, as we have seen in the documentation and background, does not help them,” he concluded.
Days ago, Gerez had blamed the national government for the gas shortage crisis that led to supply cuts at all CNG stations and large industries in the country. In dialogue with Infobaethe official from the previous administration maintained that the adjustment in public works led to a delay in key works that “cost all Argentines USD 600 million” due to energy imports.
