Argentina announces US$115mn expansion of wastewater treatment plant in Buenos Aires

Argentine Water and Sanitation Statement

This is an automated translation of the press release issued in Spanish

This Friday, the president of AySA , Malena Galmarini, accompanied by the Minister of Economy , Sergio Massa; the Minister of Public Works , Gabriel Katopodis; the Minister of Infrastructure and Public Services of the Province of Buenos Aires , Leonardo Nardini; and the general secretary of SGBATOS, José Luis Lingeri, announced the expansion of the third module of the "North Treatment Plant", which will allow the incorporation of 300,000 new inhabitants to the sanitation service of the plant and the "Energy Cogeneration" project that will allow Contribute to a circular economy model within the same establishment.

The act took place at the plant located in the San Fernando district, where it was celebrated that a total of 900,000 inhabitants will benefit from the sanitation service, once the works are finished. The Secretary of Energy of the Nation, Flavia Royón, the mayor of San Fernando, Juan Andreotti and the vice president of AySA, Martin Reibel Maier, among others, also participated in this event.

Upstage, Malena Galmarini expressed: “Today we are at this plant launching the tender for a third module that means 300,000 more people who will have sewerage. That is caring for the environment, that is also health care, it is caring for the family economy. It is also working with the world, there are 30 billion pesos with which the World Bank collaborates and that is having debts that serve. When we ask for money abroad, it cannot be for the businesses of a few, it has to be for the infrastructure of a country where we are many”.

Currently, the plant deals with the treatment of sewage effluents from the districts of Tigre, San Fernando, San Martín, Vicente López and San Isidro and, after its expansion, it will be possible to incorporate 300,000 more people and add part of the inhabitants of Escobar to the sanitation service of the plant.

Its expansion is possible, since the Plant has two treatment modules, the first was put into service in 1998 and the second in 2014. These modules carry out a purification treatment using activated sludge technology, reaching 600,000 neighbors and neighbors.

For his part, the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa said: "I was mayor and in my administration we did many things but I was left with a debt that was a debt of Ubieto, another great mayor that Tigre had. And that was also a debt of the current mayor, and I want to honor the person who paid that debt with the neighbors of Tigre, because with pride and satisfaction we can say that by December 30 Tigre will have 100% running water and by March 30, 100 % of sewers. And the one who paid that debt is Malena. And I want to thank her because in some way I honor my word, she understood that Tigre wanted more and met that goal."

"Wherever Male passes through, there is a change, there is a transformation, there is an imprint, there is a look and there is an enormous management capacity", highlighted the Minister of Public Works, Katopodis on the management of Malena Galmarini at the head of AySA and added : "This work represents what we are as a government, but more importantly what the workers and companies are in a Peronist government and what it does with public works."

Along the same lines, Nardini expressed: "I want to thank on behalf of the provincial government and on behalf of the inhabitants of the Buenos Aires suburbs who waited so long for this to become a reality, thanks to the workers of AySA, of the Ministry of Infrastructure through DIPAC, we were able to carry out what we need so much”.

In order to provide 100% sewerage coverage, it is a joint effort made by Obras Publicas Nacional, the DIPAC of the provincial Ministry of Infrastructure, and AySA so that those neighbors who have been waiting, after so long, for the sewers to arrive in Morón and several more districts could be a concrete reality.

This expansion will be financed by the World Bank with an investment of 24,850 million pesos and 1,200 genuine jobs can be generated.

Likewise, along with the expansion of the plant, a compact energy cogeneration module will be put into operation for the first time in AySA, which consists of a feeding system based on the biogas produced in the digesters present in modules I and II of plant.

This makes it possible to contribute to a circular economy model, since this new system will be used for the generation of electrical energy that will cover part of the current requirements, and thermal energy that will be used to heat the associated digesters that reduce the impact of the process. in the environment. For this project the company will invest $2.48 billion pesos and 200 jobs will be generated.

Finally, Galmarini said: “These three and a half years we have done a lot, more than in any other period since AySA has existed as AySA. We have carried out 4,000 kilometers of water and sewage networks. And that is 1,500,000 people with water and 1,600,000 more people with sewage. Almost eight years ago a president arrived who said that right off the bat he was going to do 100% of water and sewage throughout the country. And then they didn't do a kilometer. We have to continue working so that the political sign does not change. Only politics transforms people's lives and only Peronism does the things it has to do so that people live better."

The act was also accompanied by national officials, senators, deputies, councilors of Unión por la Patria, various authorities and workers of AySA and members of the board of directors of SGBATOS.