| Work Detail |
It is about the Monte Comán-La Horqueta aqueduct that will be built in the southeast of Mendoza and that is part of the key works that the governor proposed in the 2023 Budget. The envelopes of technical offers were opened and it is expected to continue with the steps to follow corresponding.
THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND INFRASTRUCTURE OPENED THE ENVELOPES OF THE TECHNICAL BIDS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE MONTE COMÁN-LA HORQUETA AQUEDUCT.
The Ministry of Planning and Infrastructure of Mendoza opened last Wednesday the envelopes of the technical offers for the construction of the Monte Comán-La Horqueta aqueduct, one of the four key works that Governor Rodolfo Suarez wants to execute in 2023 and that weeks ago he obtained the Legislative endorsement necessary for indebtedness.
As indicated, the administrative act was carried out on the 4th floor of the Government House and three bidders appeared. The interested companies are Corporación del Sur SA, Hugo del Carmen Ojeda SA and the joint venture formed by Ceosa and Obras Andinas SA.
The three had already been in the last tender for the work in 2020, before the complaint made to the State Prosecutors Office for the violation of the confidentiality clause in the process and irregularities in the pre-award of the aqueduct to the construction company that had remained in sixth place (UTE Ceosa-Obras Andinas), which resulted in the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) withdrawing the credit it had made available.
Regarding how the path to start the aqueduct will continue, the Government indicated that “the next step to follow is that the evaluation commission will analyze the technical offers and determine if all the legal requirements have been met. Then, a date will be set for the opening of economic offers.
The work consists of improving the socio-productive conditions of almost 435,000 hectares and will allow the tripling of livestock production in the southeast area of ??the province. The official budget is $2,102,650,465 million pesos. Initially it will be carried out with provincial funds, but once the company has been chosen and the work has begun, the Government of Mendoza would go to the Federal Trust Fund for Regional Infrastructure (FFIR) to request financing of 15 million dollars at low rates. , which obtained the approval of the Legislature in the approval of the 2023 Budget.
The objective of the aqueduct is to supply water suitable for livestock consumption to 89 farms between San Rafael and La Paz. This, through infrastructure works -aqueduct: 291 kilometers of pipeline, 31 terminals and 83 delivery points-, training, technical assistance and institutional strengthening.
The route of the trunk network will cross National Route 146, from where derivations will leave towards the branches provided by provincial routes 205, 77, 206 and 51. The pipelines will be supplied from an underground water well stored in a reservoir that will be located in the vicinity of Provincial Route 153 and RN 146. It will promote the use of pastures and improve pregnancy and weaning rates due to incidence of water quality by more than 40%. In addition, it will reduce the maintenance costs of wells, mills, pumps and water sources, since, through the aqueduct, it will not be necessary to have these reserves constantly operating.
IT IS LOOKING FOR THE AQUEDUCT TO IMPACT THE LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY.
Irregularities in 2020
The aqueduct had been pre-awarded to the Ceosa-Obras Andinas Joint Venture, which had ranked sixth in the economic bids. This caused other companies that had participated in the tender to make a presentation to the State Prosecutors Office for violating the confidentiality clause in the process, for which the IDB withdrew the credit for the aqueduct in mid-2020.
At the time, it was the Corporación del Sur company that had come first in the bidding process, but was not the winner among the bidders. It was even one of those who denounced the anomalies that triggered the passage to the side of the IDB.
Despite this, the construction company reapplied, as did Ceosa-Obras Andinas, a dubious winner in the pre-award at that time. Meanwhile, Hugo del Carmen Ojeda SA had been third. |
