Argentine province regains control of Santa Fe-Rosario hwy

The government of Argentina's Santa Fe province has regained control of the administration of the highway connecting the provincial capital with the port city of Rosario, which was operated under concessions for the last 24 years.

The highway will now be administrated via a blind trust named "Vial Santa Fe", which will be responsible for enforcing toll charges, paying workers' salaries, providing services for users and routine maintenance of the road, according to a press release from the provincial government.

Meanwhile, the province has begun upgrade works on a 47km stretch of the same road, which will require an investment of 266mn pesos (US$15mn). This entails the road section between the city of San Lorenzo and the access road to Maciel. Works are expected to be finished in nine months.

At the same time, a tender for the second section has been launched by the provincial infrastructure and transport ministry. The contract has a budget of nearly 307mn pesos and entails a 50km stretch of the road. Bids will be opened on August 25. The bases can be read here, in Spanish.

In June, the provincial government canceled a tender for the rehabilitation of the entire road, arguing that the sole bid did not meet the requirements. Now the local administration aims to renovate a total of 157km of the highway with a 1.9bn-peso investment.