Throughout the year, on repeated occasions, we asked the national government to give us jurisdiction over the national routes that cross the Province. Santa Fe is in a position to carry out works to repair road infrastructure and improve logistics, since a third of Argentine production leaves through our ports.
We are investing the resources of the people of Santa Fe in strategic works, which were pending for years. Next Thursday, December 12, the opening of envelopes of the “Gas Pipeline Plan for Development” is scheduled. This is a historic project of 610 km of six gas pipelines, which will benefit more than 45 towns, 120 thousand inhabitants and 250 industries in Santa Fe. The construction of these trunk networks, financed entirely by the Province of Santa Fe, will allow the optimization of our energy matrix and reduce costs for more competitive production.
We are the engine of the development of the Argentine Republic. Therefore, we implemented a series of public policies to consolidate our full potential. An example of this is “Santa Fe Activa”, a credit program for the countryside, industry, commerce, tourism, science and innovation and transportation, aimed at large investors as well as entrepreneurs. Through alliances with financial entities, we facilitate access to credit instruments with a discounted rate, achieving very favorable and competitive conditions for the private sector.
In addition, this year with the objective of promoting commercial exchange and international investments, we organized the first edition of the “Santa Fe Business Forum”, which we will repeat in September 2025. Over three days, a Round was held in Rosario of Business (reverse) and an Investment Forum. In this way we were able to demonstrate that we have the logistical capacity to bring 200 buyers from 40 countries, who connected with more than 1000 Argentine companies throughout the country. In addition, 12 investment funds were linked to 159 startups in the Knowledge Economy sector.
In that sense, a few days ago we launched the “Single Window for Investors”, with the aim of facilitating the arrival and operation of new investors. With this initiative we seek to eliminate, unify and redesign procedures to facilitate the link between the State and investors, using information technologies that simplify procedures and reduce processing times and costs.
An orderly and efficient State
In order to invest and strengthen our productive matrix, we first had to organize the State. We believe in the State, we believe in the public, but we are also convinced that the State can and should be efficient. This is one of the main premises of our government. For this reason, throughout the year, we held many in-depth debates and achieved reforms that seemed impossible a year ago.
Last September, the provincial Legislature approved the Santa Fe Pension Reform Lawa very valuable norm to reduce the deficit of the Retirement Fund of employees and public officials. Privileges were eliminated and it benefited both assets and liabilities because it gave sustainability. Today, just because of the Retirement Fund, the national State has a debt with Santa Fe that amounts to $800,000 million. These are resources that do not reach the province as required by law. We must resolve this issue as soon as possible because a country is built on the basis of institutions and unrestricted respect for the law.
Likewise, one of the pillars of management is the plan to modernize and optimize the service and efficiency of our public companies. The Provincial Energy Company (EPE) and Aguas Santafesinas must function better and provide quality service to all users. Therefore, at the same time that we make large investments, we are working to clean them up. Among other measures, the system for recruiting personnel to the EPE became a public competition. open and transparent, based on principles of competence, background and suitability. In addition, GPS was placed on the vehicles, control of biometric and facial fingerprints in the branches, control of overtime, among other actions.
Education is a priority of the Government of Santa Fe. For this reason, as soon as I took office I signed the decree that put an end to non-repetition. Thus the continuous advancement of the students came to an end. This means that the child who does not learn, who does not have the basic and pedagogical content, does not pass through the year as has been happening recently in the province of Santa Fe.
On the other hand, teacher absenteeism reached 32.1%. An unviable situation for which we implemented “Perfect Assistance”, a program that financially encourages teachers who attend to teach, and that is having very positive results. Deeper reforms are coming to the education system, but if a school doesn’t have gas or paint, everything falls apart. That is why we launched the “1000 Classrooms” program, which seeks to improve school infrastructure to enable learning to take place in appropriate contexts. So far in 2024, 259 classrooms are already under construction with an investment that amounts to $17 billion.
In Health, for the public system, we efficiently guarantee the purchase of medicines and save the equivalent of 450 ambulances ($45,000 million). We managed to acquire more medications, with average savings of 68% compared to the market value. We do not save by buying less but by buying differently, centrally, with greater competition and clear rules. We have already completed 13 bidding processes, which include different drugs and medicinal specialties.
Within the framework of the “Dengue Objective” program, whose main axis is prevention and awareness, the provincial government is carrying out a vaccination campaign that has already exceeded 54 thousand doses applied. The program has a total budget of $8,000 million, of which $4,500 was invested in the acquisition of 160 thousand doses. In addition, the Pharmaceutical Industrial Laboratory (LIF) is quintupling the production of repellent, reaching 500 thousand units in March 2025.
Control in prisons, more police on the streets and criminal prosecution
The people of Santa Fe gave us the mandate to recover the street, to achieve peace of mind for good neighbors so that they can have a life plan and feel safe. Today, 12 months later, the Argentine Republic begins to look at the province of Santa Fe due to the decrease in violence and crime. It dropped almost 70% in Rosario, which was the most violent city in the country. This year we showed that when the State wants, it can. The State, working in a coordinated manner, is always stronger than the violent or any criminal organization.
For the first time in the province we feel that all levels of the State are pulling in the same direction. Federal and provincial prosecutors, federal and provincial forces. There is unwavering action from all parts and levels of the State that shows all criminal organizations that we are going to go after them until we regain peace and order in Rosario and Santa Fe.
We have the best crime statistics of the century. With determination and management, we are carrying out a very clear and forceful security plan that consists of: 1) control of prisons, 2) more police on the streets and 3) criminal prosecution. In Santa Fe, in addition to dismantling drug criminal gangs, we confiscated and auctioned their assets. In 2024, $1,124 million were raised in two auctions of assets carried out by the Provincial Agency for the Registration, Administration and Disposal of Assets and Patrimonial Rights (Aprad).
The provincial Legislature gave us the tools we needed to act. With the support of the entire political spectrum, key laws were passed to recover security, such as: the Security Emergency; Execution of the Deprivation of Liberty Sentence; Penitentiary Service; Defederalization of microtrafficking; Intelligence; Strengthening the Public Prosecutor’s Office; Trial by Juries; Criminal Procedure Code; among others.
As of December 10, the high-profile wards were restored in the provincial prisons, there was suspension of visits and very severe restrictions for prisoners who continued to commit crimes and crimes from prison. We are going to continue down that path. We plan to build a total of 4,280 cells, which is equivalent to what was built in the last 40 years. The process has already begun to build, in the town of Piñero, the country’s first high-profile prison that will house 1,152 inmates. The construction period is 20 months and the start is scheduled for January 2025.
Today, between provincial and federal forces, we have an average of 250 operational patrol vehicles arranged through a quadrant and layered grid plan to combat crime intelligently. In contrast, just a year ago there were 20 mobile phones serving the 911 system. In December 2023, street identifications were not made either; today, around 50,000 identifications are made per month in the Cóndor system.
On the other hand, we continue to invest so that our security system is increasingly robust and thus continue to recover levels of peace and tranquility. All the investment that is being made in security is the effort of the State as a whole. 960 patrol cars and 500 motorcycles have already been purchased, and another 100 motorcycles and 500 trucks are in the process of purchasing. Rosario is going to be the most watched and monitored city in the entire country, because we are tripling the number of cameras installed. On Monday, December 9, the bidding envelopes will be opened to acquire 6,000 new video surveillance cameras, which include artificial intelligence (AI).
A historic opportunity
It is with the countryside and the industry that Argentina is going to move forward. We are partnering between provinces in an intelligent way to build medium and long-term public policies that allow our territories to be more efficient, develop and generate economic growth.. Together with Córdoba and Entre Ríos, we relaunched the Central Region. Additionally, together with Corrientes, Chaco, Entre Ríos, Formosa and Misiones, we created the Litoral Region.
Our provinces have the same DNA: the defense of federalism. This year we have taken on responsibilities that in previous administrations were not the responsibility of the provincial governments. We understand and share that the goal is to have fiscal balance, but that should not be done on the backs of the Provinces. We come from years in which the federal system was not respected, which ended up doing a lot of damage to our country.
“Invincible Province of Santa Fe”is the legend that flies on our flag. Santa Fe is invincible because of our people, because of our productive, industrial, commercial, cultural development and because of our history. Today, our task is to govern so that the people of Santa Fe can live the present with more peace of mind and look to the future with hope. We are convinced that we have a historic opportunity to change this reality, managing in a different way: with order, effectiveness and efficiency.
By 2025, institutional dialogue should be much greater, because we are all willing to help, we agree with the underlying objective, which is order and balance in the accounts. But for that we have to be fair and for that we have to comply with the law. The governors of Argentina are allies for the debates we have to hold, because we all have the same objective, which is that Argentina can grow and be the country we dream of.
Governor of Santa Fe
Source: Ambito
