Spotlight: Buenos Aires province's most important infra projects

Buenos Aires province is trying to keep infrastructure projects going through a combination of local resources and multilateral financing, as the federal government has slashed funding for public works and has a tense relationship with the provincial administration.

“There are a lot of works that were stopped, as well as some national routes. The issue of which paralyzed federal projects will be taken up by the province is being evaluated,” a source from the provincial infrastructure ministry told BNamericas on condition of anonymity.

The federal government recently announced that 914 infrastructure projects that were halted will be transferred to provincial authorities, although which contracts will be affected in Buenos Aires remains unclear. 

“This is a task that will take several months since information between the federal government and the province isn’t flowing normally or in a constant manner,” the source added.

Governor Axel Kicillof, who served as economy minister during Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s presidency (2007-15), is playing a leading role in the opposition to President Javier Milei. 

Kicillof has criticized Milei’s decision to halt funding to public works and has highlighted his aim to keep projects going.

“We don’t paralyze any project because we are convinced that, opposite to what the national government believes, public works bring prosperity,” Kicillof said during an inauguration event last week.

According to documents from the provincial infrastructure ministry, the most important provincial projects are:

Bahía Blanca and Coronel Rosales waterworks plan (US$69.7mn): Involves 21 projects, some of which are complete, They are being funded by the provincial treasury and Latin American development bank CAF.

Among ongoing works are: 

• replacement of a 13.5km aqueduct linking the Grünbein potable water treatment plant and the Paso de las Piedras dam (US$11.2mn), works began in April;
• rehabilitation of the Brandsen street aqueduct in Bahía Blanca (US$14.3mn), construction started in May;
• renovation of 83,480m of potable water pipelines in Bahía Blanca (US$13.5mn), started in 2022; 
• new aqueduct for Patagonia potable water plant (US$17.3mn), under construction since January 2023.

Gran La Plata waterworks plan (US$175mn): Involves five projects funded by the province, CAF, and the Kuwait Fund for Arab development.

The largest project in this program is a new US$111mn potable water treatment plant for the municipalities of La Plata, Berisso and Ensenada for which construction started in 2022. Other works that are part of the program are a 36,000m³/h plant, a 2.2km water intake on La Plata river and a 5.4km distribution pipeline.

The other major project is the US$44mn Parque San Martín aqueduct, for which a tender must be relaunched after a previous auction in May was declared void.

It involves a 10.7km potable water pipeline, one 15,000m3 and another 5,000m3 storage tank, a secondary 16.4km pipeline and upgrading three pumping stations in La Plata. 

New Presidente Perón highway (US$126mn): Divided into four contracts, works were paralyzed after Milei took office last December. The provincial administration created a management and development consortium and appointed several overseers earlier this month to get the contracts transferred from the federal to the provincial administration.

The four contracts are:

• Section 1, Camino del Buen Ayre highway-West Access-Morales stream (US$66mn, 26km): 86% complete, with 14km opened to traffic;
  
• Section 2, 20 de Junio neighborhood-provincial route 58 (US$31.2mn, 28.4km): fully opened in December 2023, although some works are not complete;
• Sectionr 3, provincial route 58-provincial route 53 (US$21.7mn, 18.6km): 85% complete, with 9km opened to traffic;
• stretch 4, provincial route 53-provincial route 2 highway (10km): halted since 2012 due to legal issues.

Provincial route 4 improvements (US$93.6mn): funded with municipal, provincial and CAF resources, works are divided into five stages, with the first two entailing two stretches each.

Almirante Brown municipality section:

• section 1 Avenida Donato Álvarez-Avenida Espora, 8.2km, 5.2% complete;
• section 2 Avenida Espora, Calle Capitán Moyano, 5.1km, 48% complete.

The provincial government also decided to add a 900m viaduct that was paralyzed after Milei took office, as it is located on the intersection of provincial route 4 and 16 and was over 90% complete when works stopped last year. 

Lomas de Zamora and Esteban Echeverría sections:

• section 1: Avenida Pedro Suárez-Calle Mariano Moreno, 1.3km, 67% complete;
• section 2: Calle Subteniente Gabastón street-avenida Barros, 3.1km, 65% complete.

La Matanza section:

• national route 3-Don Bosco avenue, 4.3km, 19% complete.

Hurlingham section:

• West Access highway-Morón stream, 4.1km, works started last month.

San Martín section:

• José León Suárez bridge-Sarratea avenue, 1.7km, construction should start next month.

Provincial route 11 highway (US$105mn): financed by the province and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Works, which include pavement upgrades and road widening, are divided into two sections:

• section I: Villa Gesell municipality-Canal 5, 39.4km, 5% complete;
• section II: Canal 5-Mar Chiquita, 33km, 13% complete.

Provincial route 41 highway San Andrés de Giles-San Antonio de Areco section (US$77mn): Works began in November 2022 and were 17% complete by August 2024. Works entail widening a 25.7km road stretch, as well as repaving works and building 18 bridges.

Provincial route 6 improvement (US$17.9mn): Divided into five stretches. One is finished, two are in execution and two are in contract renegotiations due to the currency devaluation in December 2023. Funds come from the provincial treasury and IDB.

• Section 1, provincial route 215-Ezeiza Cañuelas highway, 63km, 95% complete;
• Section 2, Ezeiza Cañuelas highway-provincial route 40, 23km, finished;
• Section 3, provincial route 40-provincial route 24, 20km, 66% complete, in renegotiations;
• Section 4, national route 8-Campana access turnabout, 23km, 24% complete, in renegotiations;
• Section 5 Campana access turnabout-national route 12, 11km, 81% complete.

In addition, the province is also planning to reactivate 21 university infrastructure works worth US$26.7mn, which have been paralyzed due to lack of federal funding.