| Work Detail |
"It is very difficult at this point to be able to establish deadlines," clarified Gustavo Cusinato, head of the Special Programs Execution Unit (UEPE) regarding the process that would be launched to address the Concordia effluent treatment plant. He warned with two failed tenders "it is necessary to restart the entire project", although he also clarified that it does not mean starting it again from scratch.
In dialogue with News Networks, Cusinato reported that the Concordia effluent treatment plant may be the most lagging of the five sanitation works, whose financing was unblocked through negotiations with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), as announced yesterday Governor Rogelio Frigerio.
According to the announcement, the Comprehensive Sanitation program for the Cities of the Uruguay River Basin foresees an investment of 80 million dollars in works for the five towns: Gualeguaychú, Concepción del Uruguay, Colón, San José and Concordia. It includes the improvement of sewage drainage services and wastewater treatment, under the responsibility of the Special Programs Execution Unit (UEPE).
The head of the UEPE, Gustavo Cusinato, told Redes de Noticias that the projects have different degrees of progress, with the work already started in Gualeguaychú and with 50% progress, the project already approved in Colón, Concepción del Uruguay and San José.
The Concordia effluent treatment plant had a call for bids in December 2021 and another in December 2022 with an official budget of 5,734,810,450 pesos, about 32 million dollars at the official exchange rate at that time.
The tender was not awarded and according to Cusinato, even the costs of the work will have to be reconsidered because there is a budget of 80 million dollars for the five plants and only the Concordia plant required 32 million at the time.
He clarified that “that does not mean that the entire project has to be done from scratch, but it will be necessary to restart the process.” He said that the project presented will be taken as the basis for the new call for bids, which suggests that the beginning of the work is still several years away from being finalized.
The project foresees a sanitation system with a single treatment plant for the entire city including Villa Adela and Benito Legerén and a unified sewage system with a main pumping station that will receive all the citys sewage collectors and drive them to this plant. . It will be located in the Benito Legerén area, near the old Cap Yuquerí Refrigerator.
The property where the plant will supposedly be built was declared of public utility by the Legislature in 2017.
Cusinato declined to specify whether the initiative under study insists on the place chosen by previous administrations, due to his recent assumption of office. “I can give details of all the paperwork issues that have been done, but not about the details of the work,” he clarified and commented that “I am going to Colón to visit the planned places.”
In August 2017, the provincial legislature approved the “declaration of public utility and subject to expropriation of the property known as “La Charita”, located in the vicinity of the Yuquerí meat processing plant in Benito Legerén. At that time Rogelio Frigerio was Minister of the Interior of the government of Mauricio Macri. |
