How Argentina is advancing its road concessions program

Argentina is moving forward with a tender plan for roadworks that will modernize more than 9,000km and add another 12,000km, as part of the national government's strategy to reduce costs and promote private investment.

According to the Construction Chamber, Camarco, Argentina is losing around US$25 billion (bn) a year due to the lack of infrastructure maintenance.

One of the most important initiatives is the Federal Concessions Network, which provides for the concession of routes for 20 years in several stages, of which two have already been awarded, one has received bids, and the last is scheduled to open at the end of May.

The concessions are offered through a system in which the private sector will carry out the operation and maintenance of the road sections without expenditures by the national government. On the roads included in the Federal Concessions Network, 80% of the country’s traffic circulates.

In April, minister Luis Caputo announced that work is underway on new tenders that would include an additional 12,000km of major works, among them capacity expansions and alternative routes.

This process is joined by a recent tender for the repaving of national route 89, which crosses the provinces of Chaco and Santiago del Estero, with an estimated budget of 76.133bn pesos (US$54.5 million (mn)). The submission of bids is scheduled for August 2026.

First stage

In the first stage of the Federal Concession Network, 741km of the former Road Corridor 18 were tendered, which includes National Routes 12 and 14 and the Rosario–Victoria bridge. This is a key route, as it is part of the Mercosur road corridor, vital for freight transport to Brazil and Uruguay.

The companies that won the process, which concluded in January, were Autovía Construcciones y Servicios and the temporary business union (UTE) made up of Obring, Rovial, Edeca, Pitón and Pietroboni.

Autovía Construcciones y Servicios took possession of the eastern section, called the Mercosur Highway, which includes national routes 12, 14, 135, AO15 and 117, which run through the provinces of Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos and Santa Fe.

Part of the Grupo Cartellone, the company was created in 2010 to operate the concession for National Route 7, which extends from Buenos Aires to Mendoza over nearly 1,000km. In 2016, the company obtained the road concession for routes 34 and 9 from the town of Ceres, in the province of Santa Fe, on the border with the province of Santiago del Estero, to the town of San Pedro, in the province of Jujuy.

Meanwhile, the UTE will be in charge of the Rosario–Victoria bridge, which connects the provinces of Entre Ríos and Santa Fe over the Paraná River, near access routes to ports and production centers in Greater Rosario.

The UTE is made up of local construction companies from Santa Fe and Entre Ríos with experience in road works in different areas of the country.

Second stage

Section II-A of the Federal Concessions Network, which covers more than 1,800km of roads, was awarded in two sections.

The South–Atlantic–South Access section was awarded to the group made up of construction companies Concret Nor, Marcalba, Pose and Coarco. The corridor includes the Ezeiza–Cañuelas, Riccheri and Jorge Newbery highways, as well as national routes 3, 205 and 226, one of the country’s main logistics and commercial corridors.

Meanwhile, the Pampa section, which includes routes between the provinces of Buenos Aires and La Pampa, was awarded to Construcciones Electromecánicas del Oeste (Ceosa). With experience in roadworks in Mendoza, Ceosa was also responsible for the development of Paseo del Bajo, a 7km underground route in the city of Buenos Aires inaugurated in 2019.

The tender for stage II-B covers 2,500km divided into the Mediterranean sections (routes 7 and 35), Puntano (8, 36, A-005 and 193), Southern Port (9 and 188) and Northern Port (9, 33 and A-008), covering the provinces of Córdoba, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa and San Luis.

The national government received 17 bidders for this process.

Third stage

Stage III of the Federal Concession Network, whose opening is scheduled for May 22, incorporates more than 3,900km of national routes distributed across eight sections: Cuyo, North Central, Northwest, Chaco–Santa Fe, Litoral, Northeast, Central and Mesopotamian.

(The original version of this content was written in Spanish)