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The Presidents "no money" impacts local tenders, especially in Rosario. More bidding and lower prices. The names that enter the fray.
The stoppage is brutal. They didnt say it was 100%, but it is": this is how one of the main references in Rosario in this area describes the national panorama in terms of public works. And due to the lack of works by Javier Mileis administration, the competition in the city and throughout Santa Fe has escalated in the number of bidders.
Heres an example. At the end of March, when the city was experiencing one of the worst crises in its history regarding security, 13 companies submitted bids for a sewage project in Fisherton Noroeste. JLG Constructora SA came from Río Cuarto (Córdoba), along with four bidders from the city of Santa Fe and several others from Rosario, some of which had never participated in projects of this type. Winkelmann SRL, based in the provincial capital, was the successful bidder.
A few days ago, the envelopes were opened for the construction of the third lane on the Rosario – Santa Fe highway. There, with eight bidders and an official budget of 55 billion pesos, some of those who bid crossed the province and arrived from Buenos Aires and Entre Ríos. The fact there is that one of them, Pose SA, made an offer in the order of 41 billion, well below the rest.
“For some time now, tenders were not accepted. We are in a very inverse and even historic period,” say the Pablo Javkin administration. “The national aspect has an impact on the need for work,” concedes the government of Maximiliano Pullaro, who through his Ministry of Public Works has been driving a series of tenders (some of them in conjunction with the Municipality), while insistently demanding the transfer of national routes.
Prices down: from Maximiliano Pullaros anger to the businessmens déjà vu
The provincial government repeats it over and over again, especially in the portfolio headed by Lisandro Enrico: "We lowered the cost of public works by 70% on average." For this, they exemplify, the concentration of all the provincial departments in a single contract for road repairs was essential. "There was a huge difference," they emphasize.
“There is an oversupply due to the number of construction companies that are out of action. It is very difficult to make money and to do so you have to lower costs. You can lose on one project but not on all of them,” says another private expert in the sector.
Considering the ministers statements as "unfortunate", a builder recalls that last year "there was a boom in construction throughout the country" due to the electoral effervescence. "Prices are going up because there were fewer resources. With these prices there is no way to be profitable," he analyses.
In the same tone, he predicts that in these scenarios “many times the companies are not so solid and there are many problems in finishing the work.” “I am looking at the past, not predicting,” he points out. In the Rosario works that are in the bidding process, such as the remodeling of Ayacucho or the final paving in the Antártida Argentina neighborhood, the budgets are more in line with the official ones.
Competition is not only with outsiders
Both parties also agree that Santa Fe - and Rosario as well - was one of the first provinces to go out to tender. "They all want to come here," they say. Hence the competition that includes, in addition to foreign companies, large companies from the area that years ago did not bid to enter a city and, given the need, flood the market, which had its moment of glory with the "Rosario Agreement," where Pullaro and Javkin drew the line at the La Comedia Theater.
“We are not worried about them coming from outside. They bring in foremen, but the labour and materials are local,” the municipality analyses. “It will be like this for a long time,” the private sector predicts.
“Buy Santa Fe”, subject to modifications
In recent days, in a Senate focused on pension reform, there was also time to touch on a sensitive issue: the modification to the Buy Santa Fe, the mechanism that allows companies with provincial anchorage to keep a project in case there is a difference of 5% with one from outside, or improve the offer in case it exceeds 8%.
Representatives of the Chamber of Construction were in Santa Fe to talk with legislators and try to avoid the suspension of the law (“It went from being a priority to being blurred,” the government maintains). The solution could be through a reduction in the percentage, leaving the possibility of improving the offer for the Santa Fe company in case it exceeds the offer from abroad by 5%. “Opinions are still being collected,” the Senate says.
Source: https://www.letrap.com.ar/ |
