Argentina opens economic bids for Paraná-Paraguay waterway amid warnings of irregularities
The winning company will gain access to revenues of close to USD 600 million per year in tolls, according to the tender conditions
The government of Javier Milei proceeded on Tuesday to open the economic bids submitted by the two international consortia competing for the 25-year concession of the Paraná-Paraguay waterway, Argentina’s main fluvial trade artery, despite a warning from the Public Prosecutor’s Office about the existence of serious and obvious irregularities that could give rise to criminal and administrative consequences. The Peronist opposition has filed a bill in Congress demanding the immediate suspension of the process.
The two finalists are the Belgian firm Jan De Nul, partnered with Argentina’s Servimagnus, and another Belgian company, Dredging, Environmental & Marine Engineering (DEME). The technical qualification of both consortia was officialized on Monday by the executive. The process is being run under a public works toll concession regime and involves expected investments above USD 10 billion. The winning company will gain access to revenues of close to USD 600 million per year in tolls, according to the tender conditions, over a corridor through which approximately 80% of Argentina’s agroindustrial exports flow, along with strategic cargo from Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Last Friday, the Office of Administrative Investigations (PIA), which reports to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, released an opinion warning that the concession process presents sufficient elements to flag serious and obvious irregularities in the drafting of the tender documents, which will inevitably lead to a procedure and possible award open to administrative and/or criminal challenge. The body identified as problematic the drafting of the anti-corruption clause, the conditions for an eventual contract assignment, the limits on the possibility of contesting the procedure, and the formula for evaluating the offers, described as distorted. The opinion also pointed to the absence of a comprehensive environmental impact assessment and deficiencies in the public consultation procedure.
The official warning comes after a first tender attempt was annulled last year over similar irregularities, in which DEME had been the sole bidder. The PIA recalled that the current procedure repeats errors expressly mentioned in the previous intervention, to which new and substantial deficiencies are added. Peronist congressman Jorge Taiana submitted a bill in the Chamber of Deputies demanding that the executive suspend the tender and conduct comprehensive environmental studies, a new round of citizen participation, and the guarantee of the principles of transparency, competition, equality, reasonableness, and access to public information.
The so-called Main Navigable Waterway runs from the confluence of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers, in northeastern Argentina, to the outer Río de la Plata, and constitutes the main maritime outlet for Mercosur. It is the country’s most important fluvial-maritime route and a strategic asset for the functioning of the regional logistics corridor.