The Ministry of Economy has determined a list of 376 public works that are considered priorities and therefore will be executed in a term of up to 36 months with an estimated investment of 2,827,970 million pesosaccording to official sources Ambit.
These undertakings cover different projects ranging from works in the Cuyo corridor of Route 40 to the completion of the Coronda federal prison, in Santa Fe. “In some cases, work will be restarted immediately and in others, due to the delay in contracts, more time will be needed, but we estimate that within the next three months these 376 works will be back in progress.”according to sources from the Ministry of Public Works.
Urgency
Asked about the criteria on the basis of which the priorities were established, they responded: “We did an analysis of the urgency of the works with a current contract and we did not carry out any work that had not yet been awarded or contracted, so we concentrated on first accommodating the disaster that existed in terms of public works.”
They anticipate that in the coming months the case of other works that are also strategic for the Nation will be analyzed. These are projects that will not be transferred to another jurisdiction nor will they be rescinded. These are works that for the National Government have “a non-immediate priority”.
Consequently, the term used by officials is to “neutralize” these works, that is, “Agree with the contracting company to suspend all obligations, without generating any type of expense for the parties, and the contract is neutralized in the term and in the obligations for when the restart is arranged, which could be, suppose, the year coming”.
In this category are counted 347 works involving an estimated amount of 1,794,497 million pesos.
Within the framework of the last Convention of the Argentine Chamber of Construction -CAMARCO-, the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputonoted that “The nation has to carry out important infrastructure works that serve development.”
The head of the Treasury Palace stated that “we received 2,700 (public) works, of which 77% were by agreement and minor works, such as a curb in Santiago del Estero, a roof for a pool in another province, bathrooms in a cemetery.” And he asked What should the nation do with these works? That is not a work. That is politics.”
Caputo pointed out that these works have to be carried out, but “The mayor or the governor have to do it”. For us, the supervision of these works was more difficult than the work itself.” In this sense, The central administration transferred more than 900 works to the provinces.
The decision of the Executive Branch to continue with certain works occurs in a context in which Construction is the branch of the economy that suffers most from the recession, largely due to the decrease in public sector investment. Treasury data shows that in May There was an 82.8% year-on-year drop in capital expenditureaccording to the consulting firm ACM.
The Monthly Estimator of Economic Activity (EMAE) prepared by the INDEC shows that last April it experienced a 20% year-on-year dropIt is estimated that Some 100,000 jobs were lost.
The situation of companies in the sector is compromised not only by the retraction of activity, but also by the delay in payments from the State. According to the head of CAMARCO, Gustavo Weiss, lThe Executive’s debt with companies in the sector reaches 400 billion pesos.
Source: Ambito
