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Faced with the sharp decline in investment in road infrastructure, opposition senators presented a bill proposing to redirect part of the Fuel Tax revenue toward the maintenance and improvement of national highways, which are currently in critical condition. The initiative proposes amending Law 23,966 to increase provincial participation in the distribution of the tax and ensure the execution of essential works. The bill was promoted by Salta Senator Sergio Leavy , with support from his bloc (Unión por la Patria), and proposes transferring 13.54% of the tax originally allocated to the National Roads Department and 4.31% of the fund allocated for water infrastructure to the provinces. According to the report, the goal is to provide the jurisdictions with resources to intervene in strategic corridors whose conservation has been neglected by the nation. During his speech in the chamber, Leavy warned that for every peso not invested in road maintenance, 5.5 times more is spent on rehabilitation works , and emphasized that in 2024 only a third of the funds planned for the Transportation Infrastructure Trust were transferred. The money is there, but its not appearing. Where are the funds if not in the roads? he questioned. At the legislative level, the Senate is not alone in its demands. In April, the Chamber of Deputies approved a request for information from the Ministry of Public Works and National Roads , seeking to understand the governments priority list for public works. So far, there has been no official response . The deterioration of roads such as National Route 7 in Mendoza , which leads to the Los Libertadores International Pass , was cited by several legislators, including Julio Cobos (UCR) , who deemed it necessary to declare a road emergency to expedite bidding processes and curb the rising accident rate. We cant just close the door and stop maintaining whats already been built, he said. Along similar lines, Representative Emiliano Estrada emphasized that road maintenance is the most urgent component of public works , and noted that its abandonment not only entails risk to life , but also a direct threat to the productive development of the interior of the country , where many regional economies depend on roads in good condition to transport their production. According to a report by the Mediterranean Foundation , public investment has fallen at all levels of government: at the national level, it went from 0.8% of GDP in 2023 to 0.3% in 2024 ; in the provinces, it fell from 1.4% to 0.8%; and in municipalities, from 0.3% to 0.2%. This decline coincides with the freezing of public works and the centralization of resources without implementation. |
