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The state waterway was short-lived: Javier Mileis government is preparing a new tender for the Paraná-Paraguay trunk navigable waterway. After the variants that were analyzed during the previous government after the end of the contract with the Belgian company Jan de Nul, the current management will resume the model adopted in the 90s to transfer the operation to private companies through a toll-based public works concession. . The provincial government does not disagree with the decision, although it has been demanding to be part of the preparation of the specifications and to have greater weight in decision-making. Meanwhile, among the detracting voices, what appears is the need to consider the local and the benefits that moving towards a mixed model between the private sector and a State intervening in a virtuous manner could bring.
The Menemist concession began in 1995 and was extended until September 2021, when the national government handed over control of the maintenance of the trunk road to the General Administration of Ports (AGP). And although some sectors were excited about the State taking the reins of this management, it was never the objective of Alberto Fernándezs government, which thought of it as a transition towards a new private tender. From this process, two organizations remained in operation: the National Entity for Control and Management of the Navigable Way (Ecovina), an organization with federal representation, in charge of monitoring and supervising the services provided on the route; and the Federal Water Council (CFH) where officials and governors sought to define strategic guidelines on the matter.
In this framework, the decision to move forward with a private tender is in line with the governments discursive line: zero public works and the State as small as possible. Now the focus of the discussion is who will win the tender. And there are two problems: a small and cartelized market of companies that are dedicated to dredging, which also collides with the indecipherable geopolitical strategy of the government itself.
At first there was talk of Mileis interest in involving American firms in the future tender. However, these companies are running behind the four European companies that concentrate the market: Jan de Nul and Deme, from Belgium; and Boskalis and Van Oord, from the Netherlands. The so-called “big four” competes worldwide with the Chinese state company CCCC-CHEC-CDC, which offers better prices. But following the governments ideological course and the tense relations with China, it seems difficult for that company to be able to keep the contract.
Given this scenario, Jan de Nul and Boskalis seem to be gaining ground on the rest. The first because he carried out the tasks for almost 30 years and would pave the way in several aspects. Meanwhile, Boskalis, linked to the family of Queen Máxima Zorreguieta, had already become interested in the business in 2021, with the expiration of the current contract. The good relationship between the royal family and former president Mauricio Macri led to speculation that the firm could have a plus. However, the bond between the founder of the PRO and the libertarian president is not going through the best moment either.
And Santa Fe?
The provincial government assures that the waterway is part of Santa Fes strategic agenda in terms of production and they do not want the discussion to pass them by. That is why they held meetings with national officials to express their interest, but also with a request: to be part of the assembly of the specifications. The intention of the provincial government is to promote the ports that are on the Santa Fe coast, which they understand could have a more predominant role in the economic wheel of the province.
“We are interested in the development of our ports through this new tender. We are asking that different points be contemplated within the document that allow the ports that go from Timbúes to the north, and especially the port of Santa Fe, to be contemplated. Also think about the role that the port of Reconquista in the north, or the old port in Villa Ocampo, can play,” described the Minister of Production of Santa Fe, Gustavo Puccini. “These are tenders that can affect your production for the next thirty or forty years,” he added.
The official was this week in the City of Buenos Aires meeting with the Undersecretary of Navigable Waterways, Iñaki Miguel Arreseygor, recently appointed to the position: “We bring to him the interest of all the actors who are related to the waterway. Here there are studies done by private consulting firms, there are studies done by the national universities themselves, both in Litoral and Rosario; Stock Exchanges also have a very important role. And we believe that the Nation will not be able not to consider the province of Santa Fe as a relevant actor in the future of the waterway.”
Even so, it is difficult to know how much of the predisposition of the Santa Fe government finds receptivity in the national government. The fact is that the federal participation mechanisms, such as Ecovina and the Federal Waterway Council, although they were not repealed on paper, have been inoperative since Milei took office. And in these six months of government, the libertarian leaders have not shown themselves too willing to agree on the guidelines of their management with the provinces. Rather the complete opposite.
However, the provincial government does not frown upon resuming the concessionaire model of the nineties. “There is no doubt that the government is going to go towards a private tender and we are not opposed to that. We believe that we must break this stagnation, because we are missing out on opportunities for the development of our regional economies,” said Puccini, although he considered it favorable that there be state participation exercising control tasks. “We always consider that there has to be good public and private coordination. That the tenders, even carried out by private parties, have the participation of the State in the control and monitoring of what is compliance in what corresponds to each of the parties,” he added.
For the official, the province could benefit from the tender if it manages to strengthen its ports, forming a network of terminals where each one can play a key role within the Santa Fe economy. “Today Santa Fe is the second exporting province in the country, but the state of the access to the ports is not the best. And to that we add that the tender will seek to increase the depth so that more ships can come and this will allow them to export more. That is why we have to change all the infrastructure that today no longer supports the current situation,” he explained and added: “There is a lot to think about in the future with the waterway. I think it would help us produce more, to have better profitability because we would be lowering costs in our productions.”
Source: https://sumapolitica.com.ar/ |
