The concession will last for 30 years and will include a significant modernization in the administration of the waterway, through which approximately 80% of Argentina’s foreign trade passes. Among the planned initiatives, bases equipped with radars and satellite tracking systems for ships will be installed. The opening of proposals is scheduled for January 29.
The Argentine government officially announced the call for a public tender, both national and international, for the privatization of the “Vía Navegable Troncal”, which will imply that the management and maintenance of this infrastructure will remain in private hands for the next 30 years.
The measure was formalized this Wednesday through Provision 34/2024, published in the Official Gazette. The document establishes the tender under the public works concession regime with tolls, within the framework of Law 17,520 and its amendments, with the aim of modernizing, expanding, operating and maintaining the signaling system, as well as carrying out dredging, re-dredging and conservation work on the waterway.
The provision establishes that the tendered area comprises from kilometer 1238 of the Paraná River, known as Confluencia, to the Natural Deep Water Zone in the outer Río de la Plata, passing through kilometer 239.1 of the Punta Indio channel. This area includes key sections such as the Ingeniero Emilio Mitre Channel, the Paraná de las Palmas River, Bravo, Guazú, Talavera and the Paraná-Atlantic Ocean section.
The closing date for receiving offers is scheduled for January 29, 2025 at 12:00 noon, with the opening of envelopes an hour later, at 1:00 p.m., through the official Contratar portal (https://contratar.gob.ar/).
The Chief of Ministers, Guillermo Francos, announced that the concession scheme will be private and with business risk, under the supervision of the Undersecretariat of Ports and Navigable Waterways, which will manage the process. The participation of important international companies, mainly of Chinese, Dutch and Belgian origin, focused on river and maritime works is expected.
The tender includes a comprehensive modernization plan, such as the homogenization of depths to avoid bottlenecks in the Río de la Plata, deepening of the systems, establishment of reference prices for dredging of ports, technological systems for information dynamics, alert systems in case of accidents, and digital nautical charts.
Regarding security, although it will be the responsibility of the concessionaires, it will have the participation of the Prefecture and will use advanced technologies. This model also seeks to alleviate the financial burden of the State, given that the deficit of the Hydroway reached 90 million dollars as of January 2023, due to the tariff delay of previous administrations and the decrease in traffic caused by the drought.
