| Work Detail |
In 2024, the national government transferred 278 public works to the provinces and municipalities to continue with local financing. In total, they involve projects worth $63,561 million, according to the analysis carried out by Infobae. It did so by signing agreements with the provincial leaders, which involved giving them control of the execution of works that were underway when the government change took place, and taking charge of the financing. These are urban and educational infrastructure, water and road works that will be continued by the provincial administrations. In search of a zero deficit, Javier Milei decided to stop public works shortly after taking office, and has maintained in his speeches that they should be in charge of the private sector, and criticized Kirchnerism for the acts of corruption in the contracts of businessmen “of the public works club” with the State. “Public works are financed with taxes (present = explicit; money emission = inflation; future = debt). Therefore, just as it creates a work, it destroys production and work in another part of the economy due to taxes. At the same time, even without corruption, the allocation is bad because it is not what the population prefers (in fact, they would choose and choose something else).” “If there is theft, the result is even worse,” he said in a post on the X network last Sunday. These agreements with the governors signed by the Chief of Staff, Guillermo Francos – the official of the national Cabinet with the best dialogues with the opposition leaders – establish which works the provinces or municipalities will finance, with the option of terminating contracts in case of non-compliance. Francos provided a detail in his latest report to the National Congress, presented at the end of last November, in an Annex that was analyzed by Infobae. “Once the transfer of the financial assistance agreements to the provinces has been made, the National State will not make any type of financial contribution,” Francos stated in his report, in response to a question from Senator Oscar Parrilli. Although in the signing of these agreements, which included photos of the provincial leaders with Francos at the Casa Rosa, the Nation committed to execute another set of “strategic works with a high degree of progress,” in his report to the Senate, the Chief of Staff specified that another number of works would continue to be financed by the national State, “according to budget availability.” The halt in public works has been generating complaints from different sectors, from governors and mayors to business chambers, due to halted infrastructure projects and road maintenance that affects road safety and increases transportation and logistics costs. With which provinces were agreements signed? In 2024, the national government signed this type of agreement with the leaders of 17 provinces. It did not do so with the governors of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Buenos Aires City, Chubut, Jujuy, Santa Cruz and Mendoza, although these last two districts have waterworks planned with national financing. In the case of the Province of Buenos Aires, its governor, Axel Kicillof, did not sign a transfer agreement with Mileis government. The Nation did so with only three of the 135 municipalities of Buenos Aires: Campana, Almirante Brown, San Miguel. Sources from the Buenos Aires Public Works portfolio - headed by Gabriel Katopodis, former minister of the area at the national level during Alberto Fernándezs administration - confirmed this information to Infobae. The data is not minor because it involves 40% of the public works that were in progress as of December 10, 2023. And they added: (The national government) practically did not comply with the part of continuing to finance the works, not all of them (what would have been appropriate) but those that it said in the agreements that it would continue. This is vox populi in all the provinces, regardless of their color. In Chubut, agreements were signed with the municipalities of Dolavon and Comodoro Rivadavia. And in Jujuy, with the municipalities of San Salvador de Jujuy, Perico, El Carmen, Palpalá, Maimará, Aguas Calientes, San Pedro de Jujuy, El Talar, Pampa Blanca and Palma Sola. 51% of these agreements signed by the national Executive with the provinces cover works in Neuquén, Misiones, Corrientes, Salta and Catamarca, the districts most favored by these agreements. They are all governed by allied leaders, whether from provincial forces such as Gustavo Sáenz from Salta, Rolando Figueroa from Neuquén, Hugo Passalacqua from Misiones; the radical Eduardo Valdés from Corrientes, and one of the most dialoguing Peronists, Raul Jalil from Catamarca. The province that benefits the most is Neuquén, with 42 projects, for a total of $14.554 million. It is followed by Misiones, with 28 projects transferred from the Nation to that district, for a total of $3.294 million. |
