Uncertainty in the provinces due to the dissolution of Procrear and the state of abandonment of the works

The dissolution of the Procrear program, which made lines of credit subsidized by the State available to the middle class to access housing, raised alarms in the provinces where construction of towers and individual houses had been started that remained unfinished since the president took office. president Javier Milei. In Tucumán the construction of 3,100 Procrear II homes is paralyzed; in Chaco, 367 departments; in Rosario, Santa Fe, 576 apartments; and in La Pampa, 636 homes.

The Government’s announcement was made official in Decree 1018/2024 and was already published in the Official Gazette with the signatures of President Milei, the Chief of Staff, Guillermo Francosand the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo. In all districts, confusion prevails, for now, because the official decision establishes that “the Ministry of Economy may agree to the transfer of properties or units to Provinces, Municipalities, the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, housing institutes and other State agencies “On the other hand, a statement from the Economy specified what will happen to the homes: “The sale of the dissolved Fund’s land will be encouraged so that the completed homes – or those under construction – can be introduced to the market and sold to expand the supply. “he explained.

Among the first reactions is that of the governor Osvaldo Jaldo who, in contact with the press, stated that he will negotiate with the Nation to transfer the continuity of the work to the provincial government. “If it is necessary for the province to take the reins of this project, we will do so. Tucumán comes first, but everything will depend on the economic and financial situation of the province,” he stressed.

This is a project that is located in the southern area of ​​San Miguel de Tucumánwhich covers 100 hectares, the construction of towers and houses for 3,100 families and has a progress status of 15% but has been paralyzed since December 2023. The works began in July of that same year and 20 Tucumán companies were in charge. With the current Government, the work came to a screeching halt and around 700 workers lost their jobs in December. Since that moment, the companies obtained successive suspensions of the work for periods of 90 days, agreed with the Banco Hipotecario and the Nation, as Ámbito was informed from the Tucumán Chamber of Construction (CTC).

“Faced with this new scenario, the decision of the Tucumán companies is to unilaterally terminate the contracts due to the cessation of the trust,” he told this medium. Jorge Garberpresident of the CTC. “Our position is that the risk of maintaining custody of the property in the absence of beneficiaries and without the existence of Procrear II is very great, when acts of vandalism have also begun to be seen,” he added. The businessman added that they would hold a new meeting with representatives of the Mortgage bank and that the withdrawal of the signatures from the property will depend on its result, announced for next Wednesday the 20th. Another of the concerns of the business chamber is the accumulation of certificates of works that they could not collect, since the last months of the former president’s administration. Alberto Fernandezplus the loss of profits and the costs of maintaining the site, which would add up to a total of $5,000 million.

This Wednesday, the ministers of Economy and Public Works of Tucumán, Daniel Abad and Marcelo Nazurmet with the Secretary of Habitat of the Nation, Rodrigo Aybarto learn about the legal situation in which the unfinished homes were left, what will happen with the financing modality and if it is possible for the project to pass into the hands of the provincial government, taking into account the existing default with the businessmen. Official sources indicated that after noon The parties signed a letter of intent for the transfer of the project to Tucumán and in the coming weeks progress will be made on the technical and legal details.

In dialogue with Ámbito, David Acostaprovincial general secretary of the construction union, UOCRAconsidered that alternative means of financing the project should be explored given the withdrawal of the national State and the disappearance of Procrear. “This neighborhood, in full activity, would imply 10,000 jobs, both direct and indirect. It is positive that the provincial government wants to take charge although the financing is not clear. It is a shame the abandoned state of the property and with buildings half built that had already started,” he said.

Uncertainty in Chaco and Rosario

In Chaco, a Procrear II project was under development until December 2023 on the property of the former Pediatric Hospital, the progress of which was on the order of 25%. It is a building with 367 apartments and was run by the Palacios Hermanos company.

“It was going to be a very important work because we would have around 400 workers active, in a long time, but it was lost,” he said. Ariel Ledesmageneral secretary of UOCRA Chaco, in an interview with a local media. The concern of businessmen, as in Tucumán, is the delay in payment of certificates for works already executed, a debt that covers the last quarter of 2023, to date, although the costs of recent months originate from custody of the property and lost profits.

In Rosario, Santa Fe, the construction of the Federal Tire Housing Park which represents 576 housing units and 14 commercial premises built on three blocks, also through Procrear II. The Rosario firms Pecam and Epreco are in charge of sectors 1, 3 and 4, while the AMG Obras Civiles firm is responsible for sector 2, but since January of this year there has been no progress and official calculations indicate that they are in the order of 40%, with no signs of resuming.

Sources from the Santa Fe government indicated that it is the intention of that administration to reactivate the works, under a modality that involves the participation of the provincial State, because the objective is to be able to complete them in 2026, before the Odesur Gameswhich will be held in September of that year in Santa Fe. In this way, accommodation for athletes, coaches and technical teams from the 15 countries that will participate in the competitions would be resolved. For this reason, the governor Maximiliano Pullaro He ordered a technical team to study how the works could be transferred to the province and how a partnership with private companies could be finalized to conclude the project.

The Pampa awaits

The government of Sergio Ziliotto In August, it requested the Nation to transfer to La Pampa the operation of the 636 homes in the Procrear neighborhoods that are being built in Santa Rosa, Toay and General Picowhose construction has been abandoned since December 2023. There are 270 in Toay, 198 in General Pico and 168 in Santa Rosa. The companies stopped receiving payment from the Nation since December, so they stopped working, laid off almost 1,000 employees and claim a debt of $6 billion.

“We sent a note to the now Chief of Staff, Guillermo Francos, to transfer the Procrear contracts to La Pampa, as long as they come without debt and terminated, to re-tender according to financial availability and the number of houses we can move forward per year. Today, committing to building 636 houses all together would mean cutting the social housing budget a lot. To date, we have not had any response,” the Minister of Public Works told local media. Alfredo Intronati. So far, they have not received any response.