The Government will privatize 8,600 kilometers of national routes in 13 provinces

The Government will privatize 8,600 kilometers of national routes in 13 provinces
The Government will privatize 8,600 kilometers of national routes in 13 provinces

The Government announced this Thursday that it will put the management, operation and maintenance of national routes concessions that are mostly in charge of Corredores Viales SA, a state company that accumulates US$30 million in operational deficit, financed until December 2023 with funds from the National Treasury.

In his usual press conference at Casa Rosada, presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni explained that “any national or international company that presents the required insurance will be able to participate in the bidding to run service more efficiently“, a possibility that he described as “an unprecedented opening towards transparency”, unlike “the public works that nested the old politics and functioned as a box of Kirchnerist populist delirium.”

The official added that the companies that are finally concessionaires must be responsible for financing the works and “They are going to charge the award fee only once they have put the entire route in condition,” and announced that, in this way, “it is estimated that the State will have a savings of 5.6 billion dollars.”

The official calculation is a 20 year projectionas explained by sources from the state company that depends on the Ministry of Transportation, headed by Franco Mogetta, under the orbit of the Ministry of Economy, Luis Caputo.

According to an official statement, the state company created in 2017 to manage the routes previously concessioned to the private sector has not managed to comply with the minimum operation and maintenance standards, operating with a deficit despite the rate increases made.

“That is why, until December 2023, the debts were covered with funds from the National Treasury, defeating the purpose of the tollwhich is to autonomously finance the operation and maintenance of the routes,” said the Government.

Corredores Viales SA operates 10 sections of highways that cover the provinces of Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, Salta, Jujuy, Chaco, Buenos Aires, Corrientes, Misiones, San Luis, Córdoba, Santa Fe and Mendoza, and the Riccheri Access to the City of Buenos Aires .

The tender will be carried out in two stages. First, progress will be made with two sections of Corridor 18, whose concession is in charge of the company Crusa and expires on April 9, 2025. This corridor mainly includes the national routes 12 and 14, the Rosario-Victoria Bridge, and crosses the provinces of Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos, Santa Fe and Corrientes. The call will be launched in December, anticipating the award and takeover in April 2025.

In the second stage, 5,513 kilometers of routes currently managed by Corredores Viales SA will be concessioned, adding other routes that until now were not concessioned, such as RN 33 in Santa Fe, RN 18 in Entre Ríos, and the variant of RN 19 in Cordova. This stage will be divided into ten sections. The call will be made in February 2025, with award scheduled for July 2025.

In total, 8,648 kilometers will be tendered distributed in twelve sections that represent the 20% of the national road network but they concentrate 80% of the traffic.

The measure is inspired by the privatization wave that took place during the administration of Carlos Menem, when some 8,000 kilometers of national routes were granted in concession through the toll system for maintenance, a scheme that was modified the following year and then in 2003, due to user discontent due to the few advantages obtained.

The road company is one of the few that were subject to privatization as dictated by Article 7 of the Base Law along with Intercargo SAU, Energía SA (Enarsa), Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos SA (AYSA), Sociedad Operadora Ferroviaria SE (SOFSE) and Belgrano Cargas y Logística SA

Now, all actors who meet the required guarantees will be able to participate in the tender. “This new scheme promotes greater competition since it allows the participation of companies that do not necessarily belong to the road construction sector, generating greater transparency and trust in the private sector,” said the Government.

The announcement was received with skepticism in the private sector linked to construction, where they still see a macroeconomic scenario of uncertainty. “It is very unlikely to make any type of financial closure, mainly due to the stocks and the country risk. The only certainty is that the current infrastructure continues to be destroyed without any type of maintenance,” said a businessman.

Meanwhile, the Government today also announced a new increase in Road Corridor tolls and income to CABA through the Riccheri Highway, Panamericana and Western Access that will come into effect on Saturday, an inflation update that is added to the adjustment that has already been made. It was applied in September and is part of the increase plan established until the end of the year.

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