According to El Cronista, the national government accelerated the concession process for national highways this Tuesday while in the middle of negotiations with provincial governors over the reactivation of infrastructure works and the distribution of resources. The outlet reports that, with the economy paralysed and tax collection falling, the Milei administration is seeking to show progress on infrastructure without expanding public spending.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced the opening of economic bids for the third stage of the Red Federal de Concesiones (Federal Concessions Network), described by El Cronista as a further step in the process to tender more than 9.000 kilometres of national highways through private investment. Twenty-one bidders submitted 48 proposals for the concession of eight strategic sections covering more than 3.900 kilometres, according to the Ministry of Economy and the national road authority, Vialidad Nacional, which supervised the procedure on the Contrat.Ar platform. Vialidad Nacional will be responsible for enforcing the resulting contracts through a results-based control scheme, and Caputo stated that around 80% of national traffic uses the corridors included in the scheme.
El Cronista notes that the national road network totals around 40.000 kilometres, while the concession programme covers roughly 9.000 to 10.000 kilometres. Even if the process concludes as planned, close to 30.000 kilometres would remain outside the concession system. In those corridors, many of them long stretches without profitability, Vialidad Nacional will still need to carry out maintenance, rehabilitation or reconstruction work.
In many cases these are low-traffic routes where toll collection does not generate enough revenue to make a private concession viable, El Cronista reports.