Argentine provinces create agency for US$460mn aqueduct

The governors of Argentina's Córdoba and Santa Fe provinces have signed an agreement to create a bi-provincial agency that will be responsible for carrying out the first stage of a planned aqueduct that will serve both provinces, which is estimated to cost US$460mn.

This new agency, dubbed Unidad Ejecutora Biprovincial (UEB), will be responsible for negotiating loans for the project, as well as approving the official project that will be tendered this year, the Córdoba provincial government said in a release.

The UEB will also have jurisdiction over the technical and design committees created last year to draft the bidding documents, and will be in charge of carrying out the tender itself.

The first stage of the project entails an aqueduct starting at the Coronda river (Santa Fe) and leading into the center and west of Santa Fe province and into Córdoba's eastern and central areas, benefiting 330,000 residents.

A second stage would take the aqueduct into the metropolitan area of the city of Córdoba.

In a separate release from his administration, Santa Fe governor Miguel Lifschitz said that the project was likely to obtain foreign funding, saying that both provinces "are credible, with technical capacity and a positive fiscal history."