Argentina to Grant Concession for Transit Along the Paraguay and Parana Rivers
Transit of commercial vessels through the Trunk Waterway. X/ @JorgeLasReinas
November 25, 2024 Hour: 11:58 am
The ‘modernization’ of the waterway includes the installation of radars and satellite systems for tracking ships.
On Sunday, the Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers (AAdeAA) expressed its concern about the possible 30-year concession of the tolls on the Trunk Waterway (VNT).
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On November 19, President Javier Milei authorized the start of a bidding process to deliver this 1,477-km waterway, which connects the ports of the Parana River and the Rio de La Plata with the Atlantic Ocean and transports 80 percent of Argentine exports.
Until January 25, 2025, the Undersecretary of Ports and Navigable Waterways will receive offers from companies interested in receiving the VNT toll concession, which could even be extended until 2085.
Argentine Chief of Staff Guillermo Francos said that the tender documents contemplate a “modernization” of the waterway through the installation of radars and satellite systems for ship tracking.
Therefore, the Mile administration will grant the concession to whoever can meet this requirement, which supposedly seeks to contribute to the fight against drug trafficking and terrorism.
Currently, this waterway serves for the transport of cargo from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay, countries that signed an agreement in 1992 to facilitate navigation through these rivers.
For 25 years, the waterway was controlled by a private consortium made up of the Belgian firm Jan de Nul and the Argentine firm Emepa. In 2021, however, when the concession contract ended, the Argentine State took over the administration of the waterway.
“The project misleadingly called ‘The Waterway’ transcends technical matters to become a symbol of the extractivist dynamics that have historically defined the country’s relationship with its rivers and territories,” the Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers stated.
“The model proposed by the Freedom Advances party’s administration reflects a privatizing and deregulating approach that prioritizes the economic interests of a few over collective needs. This reinforces an agroexport and financialized framework that has deepened socio-environmental inequalities, structurally affecting the integrity of the Parana River and the communities that depend on it,” it added.
The Argentine environmental lawyers also explained that the Parana River is not simply a commercial transit route but is the axis of a water basin of ecological importance.
“It harbors unique biodiversity and supports the essential ecological cycles critical to the well-being of eight Argentine provinces, home to 12 million people. However, its management has historically served a model of maladaptive development based on the exportation of natural resources, reducing territories to maximize profits for sectors such as soybean farming, mining, and forestry. This reductionist vision has caused alarming deterioration of the river basin, both environmentally and socially,” they said.
teleSUR/ JF Sources: EFE – AAdeAA
