| Work Detail |
Governor Rolando Figueroa will present three bills in the Neuquén Legislature next Wednesday, aimed at obtaining the necessary funds for the reactivation of public works in the province, which today is paralyzed. The package includes the creation of a Road Fund, a reactivation plan and another financing plan for the reactivation and rehabilitation of public works.
This week the president announced that nearly 3 billion dollars are needed to address the delay in works. Figueroa maintained “the importance of not neglecting the needs of the people of Neuquén” and spoke of addressing priorities to reach the people first with health, education, security and infrastructure.
“When the government began last December, we found some 400 works practically paralyzed and currently there is a debt of $200 billion as of February of this year. Since the beginning of the administration and until now, an analysis of the situation of public works and provincial routes has been carried out, collecting data in order to be able to evaluate and make appropriate decisions to restart the works as quickly as possible and within the possibilities of access to financing,” explained the Minister of Infrastructure, Rubén Etcheverry.
One of the bills seeks the creation of a Road Fund that will allow the construction of new routes to be carried out, without forgetting that the paving of 1 kilometer requires an investment of 1.5 million dollars. This law seeks to create a fund that will be integrated with the proceeds from the collection of a contribution from vehicle circulation on Neuquén provincial routes. The purpose is to contribute to the conservation, repair, maintenance, improvements and/or expansion of the routes of our province, as well as the acquisition and/or maintenance of road equipment.
The second bill aims at the development and continuity of public works for educational, health, penitentiary and security buildings, roads, infrastructure networks (electricity, gas, water and sanitation), housing and water resources and, in general , any civil or architectural work carried out by the Provincial State.
Finally, the bill will be presented so that the province can finance the reactivation and rehabilitation of public works.
Along these lines, the provincial cabinet worked to agree on the prioritization of the works and move forward first with the school establishments; Secondly, the Health buildings, within the Health Emergency declared this year. Thirdly, the works that are 80 percent complete; and finally to solve a large number of problems with small amounts.
As a first measure, in January of this year, a decree was issued to renegotiate contracts in order to begin reactivating public works. That same month, the Minister of Infrastructure, Rubén Etcheverry, met with directors of the Argentine Chamber of Construction to evaluate the renegotiation of public works contracts, their context and scope and to work together to restart the paralyzed works.
Digital advancement and prioritization
The Ministry of Infrastructure created a digital tool called SURI (Unified Infrastructure Registration System), to, after a long task of collecting and systematizing information on the works, facilitate the visualization and prioritization of the works.
All the ministrys information records are concentrated there and progress has already been made in the methodology for prioritizing paralyzed works. On the site you can see the status of the works, entering by location or the names of the companies that are carrying them out. It is a tool intended for those who make political decisions. |
