The Argentine infra projects set to get back on track

Argentine federal officials are in talks with governors to seal financing deals for projects that were halted when President Javier Milei cut off funding after taking office last December.

The negotiations so far include 11 provinces and around 850 projects, daily Cronista reported. 

Chubut, which was not part of the initial group, later reported having reached a financing deal worth over 150 billion pesos (US$166 million), the provincial infrastructure and planning secretary Nicolás Cittadini said at a press conference on Monday. 

Now both parts are reviewing which projects can be transferred from the central government to the provincial administrations and which ones would receive federal funding, although the provinces will have to provide the lion’s share of resources. 

Some financing agreements have been signed since last week and involve the following projects, according to statements from provincial officials:

Mendoza

– national route 7, San Martín-national route 40 intersection stretch (US$16.5mn)
– national route 7, Las Cuevas-Caracoles border tunnel stretch (US$21.4mn)
– national route 40, airport access-route 34 intersection stretch (US$20.6mn)

La Rioja

– national route 75, La Rioja-Los Sauces stretch (US$15.9mn)
– national route 73, La Rioja-Chilecito stretch (US$29.3mn)
– paving of national route 76, Santo Domingo ravine-Pircas Negras border pass (US$16.3mn)

Chubut

– paving of route 260, route 51 intersection-Huemules border pass stretch (US$9.45mn)
– Comodoro Rivadavia-Caleta Olivia highway (US$29.5mn left to execute)

Tucumán

– Vipos aqueduct optimization (US$19mn)

Other provinces thought to be in talks are Jujuy, Córdoba, San Luis, Santa Cruz, Catamarca, Santa Fe and Chaco.

The talks are part of Milei’s negotiations with political blocks that are closer to his administration and are considered key for the passage of an omnibus bill, since his libertarian group doesn’t have majorities in either chamber of congress.

Bad Outlook

Despite the efforts of governors to reactivate public works, construction firms are considering 2024 a lost year, according to the head of industry chamber Camarco, Gustavo Weiss.

“I believe this crisis is a lot worse than 2001. At that time we fell from the first floor, but now we fell from the 10th floor,” Weiss told FM Millenium, saying that the current crash affects a far larger number of companies and workers than 23 years ago. 

While he clarified that the sector was struggling heavily before Milei took office,he didn’t expect the president to halt financing practically immediately. 

“The idea was to finish works that were at least 80% complete and analyze the rest later, but that didn’t happen in practice,” he said.

Weiss also ruled out a quick recovery in 2025 and suggested even projects with multilateral financing could be halted.