• 4 min de lectura
• 4 min de lectura
The governor of the Argentine province of Santa Fe, Maximiliano Pullaro, led a meeting with representatives of agro-export production entities, transporters, and the Rosario Stock Exchange to advance a definitive solution for the improvement and maintenance of the routes that make up the access circuit to the Santa Fe ports.
The objective of the meeting was to achieve "consensus from all areas and sectors, to resolve a 30-year problem," highlighted the authority, who stressed that the solution must be reached "by consensus, not in a hurry and without the necessary conversations."
"In these 29 months of management, we carried out many works to try to resolve the situation; we invested more than 200 million dollars," said Pullaro. The aim is to reach an investment of 450 million dollars with the province's own resources and external financing.
The provincial governor said that the "Nation should cover this, but unfortunately, governments come and go, investments are not made, and we all have the problem: the provincial and municipal governments, the stock exchanges, the associations representing the agricultural sectors, agro-exporters, transporters."
"The National State has left the province and this area unprotected; and Santa Fe makes a very large investment, which is not its responsibility, but we face it to solve this problem because more than 70% of agricultural production leaves through here," added Pullaro. The meeting emphasized that while the Nation collects resources linked to the road system and fuel consumption, these funds do not return in works for the strategic infrastructure of the port complex.
The governor pointed out that "we understood that there is a way to carry out the works we need to have the accesses to the port circuit we require. In this idea, the Province does not collect a single cent, nor does it administer it, but rather a trust is set up, which determines the necessary works, agreed upon by all."
"We want to reach a consensus on this project, because we believe that the best alternative is to set up a system that administers resources in an agreed and pact-based manner by all, where the Province would be one more party among those participating," concluded Pullaro.
Investment in works
The Minister of Public Works of the province, Lisandro Enrico, detailed the works that Santa Fe has executed and is executing. "284 million dollars have been invested in seven important road works in the area near ports, such as Camino de la Cremería (route 25s) and the third lane of the Rosario – Santa Fe highway, among others. But at the same time, we are promoting another series of road works near the ports that will total more than 450 million dollars in the 2024 and 2027 period," said Enrico.
"We have to make a decision: we continue in the same lamentable situation or we move to a maintenance and works scheme, as in any port complex in the world. There has been no coordination for 30 years: let's organize this and create a single port access circuit." Between provincial, national, and urban routes, there are 516 kilometers, which is why "the proposal is to coordinate the works and maintenance in a trust administered by all sectors," highlighted the minister.
In this regard, the local Minister of Economy, Pablo Olivares, explained that the objective of the Provincial Government's proposal is a comprehensive approach, "from a logistical point of view, unifying the mechanism for obtaining resources, and that the State is not an administrator, but simply an impeller. A non-State instrument, with mixed administration, integrated by all involved actors."
"The resources do not enter the provincial State; they have a specific destination: maintenance and improvement of this circuit. There are two guarantees: the intangibility of the funds and that decisions remain in the hands of the involved actors," concluded Olivares.
