The coordinator of the Business Forum of the Central Region, Maximiliano Ferraro, welcomed the decision of the governors Maximiliano Pullaro of Santa Fe, Martín Llaryora of Córdoba and Rogelio Frigerio of Entre Ríos, to create an interprovincial “Strategic Projects Bank” to manage financing.
“Regardless of how they are financed, infrastructure works allow or facilitate both the creation of new products and services as well as logistics to destination markets. They are a primary link in the productive mechanism,” warned Juan Pablo Durando, the vice president. of the Santa Fe Stock Exchange, the entity that hosted the meeting.
“The lack of infrastructure is a real bottleneck that inhibits the expression of productive projects to their full potential and, therefore, its impact on the economy is noticeable. From the creation of jobs to tax collection. And they are a fundamental element of competitiveness,” warned Durando.
Claudia Giaccone, coordinator of the Executive Board of the RC, highlighted – beyond the claim of three governors of different political stripes for the Nation’s debt with the provincial pension funds – the “challenge of organizing ourselves” towards “State policies” that integrate to civil society and private actors in the strategies of the productive cabinet.
Santa Fe-Parana Bridge
Jorge Chemes -president of Entre Ríos of the RC- celebrated the decision to incorporate the Santa Fe-Paraná bridge in the Bank of Strategic Projects. He raised – as Pullaro has been doing – the need to reactivate the Coastal Region and warned that regional policies have a better chance of success than provincial approaches.
Guillermo Marcone, director of National Highways in the Entre Ríos district, noted that the work is in “project status” (ready to be put out to tender) with a site with a header next to the La Toma campsite (waters north of the Tunnel) to connect with RN 168.
“Track 3” includes a new link from Santa Fe next to the Constitution Museum, a new bridge over the Santa Fe stream, a road parallel to the access channel on Los Mellados Island, a crossing of the access channel with a drawbridge and a new road to Colastiné south to connect with RN 168.
José Corral, the Santa Fe deputy who promoted the project during his mayor’s office, stressed that the work is estimated at about US$800 million dollars and that the main bridge over the Paraná has a “span” between its two pillars greater than 400 meters, which which makes the link an even broader structure than that of Rosario-Victoria.
“The bridge can be done in stages” and the link from the Santa Fe ring road to Colastiné would mean alleviating “the critical point” of the passage of trucks over the Oroño bridge and the internal avenues of the central part of Santa Fe.
The highlight was the decision by the governments of Córdoba, Entre Ríos and Santa Fe to create a Bank of Strategic Projects for the RC, including the tender for dredging and beaconing of the Hydroway and the new road link between Santa Fe and Paraná. The coordinators of the Business Councils of the three provinces signed the constitutive act of the RC Infrastructure Policy Council and announced the creation of three new working groups: logistics, energy and connectivity. The first conclusions will be taken to the next Conferences, to be held on September 12, at the Rosario Stock Exchange.
The role of the governors
“There is the possibility of financing subnational states without the sovereign guarantee,” said Iván Szczech, the Entre Ríos businessman who presides over the Inter-American Federation of the Construction Industry.
The RC Business Forum was crossed by the conviction that the national government – at least the Milei administration – leaves infrastructure works aside. Usually, international credits to the provinces require guarantees from the Treasury, but according to Szczech – to the extent that the macroeconomy stabilizes – the provinces could access financing from the IDB Invest or credits such as the one that the World Bank granted to the Municipality of Asunción -US $105 million – for works in its coastal area.
See alsoPullaro: “We are going to move forward when federalism is respected and the productive provinces are looked at” “The interoceanic route is of great interest to multilateral credit organizations,” said the Entre Ríos businessman, who recalled that “there are 3 world GDPs circulating for investment, and only 6% comes to Latin America.”
Regarding the east-west corridor of the Central Region, it is worth remembering Córdoba’s decision to complete two of the five sections of the RN19 highway in Córdoba territory, which the DNV has paralyzed. However, on Entre Ríos soil – as confirmed by Guillermo Marcone to El Litoral – the RN18 highway will be finished by the central government.
