The Paraná River Waterway will be managed by the State when the extension of the current concession ends, According to the Minister of Transport, Alexis guerrera. That date is not clear: depending on the 90-day period of the extension in calendar days (July 30) or business days (mid-September).
The official announced that In the next few hours, a presidential decree will be published that will establish a “short tender” for 12 months., in relation to dredging and beaconing tasks. And “when this process is finished we will have a National control entity what will he be large tender manager”. In that sense, Guerrera announced that “there will be a secretariat or ministry that is exclusively dedicated to having a presence in that backbone for the development of Argentina.”
According to what has been warned in recent weeks in the official corridors, the structure of the General Ports Administration (AGP) will be modified, which during the aforementioned 12 months, between next August and July 2022, will be in charge of the dredging and beaconing concession. Then, that body dependent on the Ministry of Transport will tender the works between private dredgers.
Regarding the toll collection for this service, Guerrera indicated that the new DNU “will grant Transportation the power to establish the rate base and the financing mechanism through the tariff or toll system ”.
Anyway like The Government has recognized that it does not have vessels in adequate conditions to carry out the dredging tasksespecially at this time when the Paraná River has the largest downspout in 77 years, it is estimated that the AGP would subcontract the services of Jan de Nul, the Belgian company in charge of this task for 25 years.
That could be an operating alternative until next year, when the final tender is carried out, because even President Alberto Fernández, in journalistic statements a few weeks ago, considered that “the State does not currently have the capacity to undertake this task, a specialty of few companies in the world ”.
About, Within the Government, there is debate from these operational questions to more philosophical ideas. Referents close to the vice president Cristina Kirchner, as the former chancellor Jorge Taiana and the national deputy Fernanda vallejos placeholder image, have been claiming for months a total nationalization of the waterway, criterion that the late minister Mario Meoni – linked to the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Sergio MassaHe literally resisted until his death, in a road accident, last April.
Officials closest to the president, on the other hand, consider that sovereignty is not at stake and less from now on, by the controls and regulations that would be intensified. Strictly speaking, the dredging company performs these tasks and charges for the service but the safety of this waterway is a responsibility of the State.
The Association of the Soybean Chain (Acsoja) reflected in a video the characteristics and relevance of the Paraná-Paraguay waterway.
The chief of staff, Santiago Cafiero, anticipated days ago that “An international public tender is going to be called with new parameters, with the participation of all the provinces that intervene in the Hidrovía, with the participation of the entire Consultative Council, with the participation of the citizens of the organizations and especially of the authorities ”.
In the letter of the decree a key unknown will be revealed: because it is not yet clear whether what the ships that circulate on the river highway pay will be received by the AGP or by the national control entity that will be created under the orbit of the Ministry of Transport . That detail can tip the balance of power towards the presidential office or towards the Instituto Patria.
