Businessmen Paolo Rocca AND Marcelo and Damián Mindlin They aspire to be with the one great one public work that will not be cut this year: the reversal of the Northern Gas Pipelinewhich will have a cost for the national state close to 800 million dollars.
Rocca and his team convinced President Javier Milei, to whom they gave strong support in the 2023 elections, that this work is strategic For avoid problems with gas and electricity supply in seven provinces of the North (Córdoba, La Rioja, Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy) starting from August, when Bolivia can no longer guarantee supply in a “firm” (non-interruptible) manner. This is why, despite budget restrictions and the strong fiscal adjustment underway, the Government will allocate resources for this purpose.
The owners of construction companies Techint Engineering and Construction and SACDE have established a Transitional Union of Enterprises (UTE), as they did for President Néstor Kirchner Gasoducto (GPNK) of Dead cowwhich they managed to do in record time in 2023 and this year will allow substitution of energy imports for about 2.5 billion dollars.
The UTE has already been assigned two of the three sections possible (“files”), the maximum allowed based on the original configuration of the tender. But at the forefront, the offers of all competitors were over budget and the work had to be recontracted, so now the signatures can participate again.
Other construction companies interested in the activity are BTUs and the American Pumpcoproperty of brothers José, Juan Carlos and Jorge Mas. These Cuban-Americans are the owners of the InterMiamithe club he plays for Leo Messiand they are interested in landing in Argentina with millionaires investments for Vaca Muerta infrastructure.
However, the previous leadership of Argentine energy (Enarsaclient of the works) disqualified Pumpco’s technical offer and questioned whether it worked as Outsourcing from another company, Vittorio Contreras, which – they say – could not carry out minor projects. The new declaration of that section, which was divided into two parts, reopens the door to the competition at all.
Strategic public works
The reversal of the direction in which natural gas flows in the Northern Pipeline (today from North to South, to bring the fluid from Bolivia; and soon from South to North, to bring gas from Vaca Muerta to northern Argentina and, eventually , generate exports to Brazil) had an original budget of $713 million. He Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) granted a loan of 540 million dollars and the rest will be financed through a fund created in 2021 with the electricity exportsmanaged by the Wholesale Electricity Market Management Company (Cammesa).
Lines 2 and 3, already entrusted to Techint and SACDE, consist of 100 kilometers of Federal integration pipeline between Tío Pujio and La Carlota (in Córdoba), with a diameter of 36 inches, which will connect the Central – West Gas Pipeline with the North Gas Pipeline. Today the two pipes join in San Jerónimo (Santa Fe), and the works will allow the flow of gas to be “accelerated”. The Mindlin brothers are originally from La Carlotaso they already own the largest infrastructure project in the history of their hometown.
The work ends in the province of Córdoba with a loop (parallel laying) of the 62 km North Gas Pipeline, the dismantling of 4 compression plants in Córdoba, Santiago del Estero and Salta, and the almost 23 kilometers remaining of the Tío Pujio – La Carlota gas pipeline. This “line 1” has a budget of 137 billion dollars and bidding will open between next Monday, February 26th and Monday, March 11th.
Last week they left the plant Tenaris SIAT in the city of Valentín Alsina, in Buenos Aires, the first pipes for opera, headed to Cordoba. These are batches of 36-inch diameter, 40-foot-long welded pipes, out of a total of 10,000, that are being produced and will require approximately 2,500 truck trips.
Source: Clarin
