Call for tenders: the cahiers scandal has confronted the trading partners of the waterway

The Belgian company Jan De Nul will be presented separately from the company Emepa, headed by Romero, who has confessed the payment of a coima

In the middle of a delicate offer after the scandal of

the notebooks of the summits of Kirchnerismo,

the partners of UTE Hidrovía SA came into conflict, but they confirmed their willingness to compete separately for the strategic concession of dredging and marking the Paraná River.

The Belgian company Jan De Nul confirmed that it would separate from the local company Emepa SA, which it considered a "political problem".

The breach of trust occurred when the owner of Emepa SA,
Gabriel Romero, confessed that he regretted that laptops had paid a kick $ 600,000 in 2010 to extend the concession until 2021 with Decree 113/2010. The situation between the partners is maximum tension.

As Romero declared before Judge Claudio Bonadio, he paid this sum to the former Secretary of Coordination, Roberto Baratta, right arm of the former Minister of Planning, Julio De Vido. Jan De Nul says that he has never been in agreement with this partner with his partner and that it was Romero 's initiative.

In this context, the government of Mauricio Macri is preparing a call for tenders for 2020 in which it will put an end to recoveries with anti-corruption clauses that prevent businessmen from competing with corruption cases. The concession will expire on April 30, 2021 and will badume a new operator.

The two partners of Hidrovía SA have been operating a 200 million USD company a year since 1995, where they charge USD 3.06 per tonne for all vessels entering and exiting the Paraná River. 70% of the country's foreign trade is transported by this waterway.

This is the most important toll in Latin America and a strategic area for the future EU-Mercosur agreement. This is why many people are interested in continuing this activity, in addition to Jan De Nul and Emepa, now behind. The Chinese holding company Shanghai Dredging Company (SDC) and the Dutch companies Boskalis, Dredging and Van Hool will be named. But the internal fighting within the UTE Hidrovía SA triggered a strong tension. As LA NACION has learned, Jan De Nul has been saying for years that he is losing money in the distribution of dividends. "We are losing money by dredging the river, our specialty that has high costs, and Emepa is making a lot of money for tagging, which has much lower costs," said Jan De's director. No.

"We can stand alone, without Argentinian partners, and we would gain money.In addition, Emepa is a political problem after the corruption," said the official source linked to Jan De Nul. At the same time, Emepa confirmed to LA NACION through its spokespersons "that it will participate in the call for tenders for the management of the waterway which will boost the national state, fruit of its experience in the management daily of the most important waterway of Argentina ". He also stressed that "for this he is implementing a process of organizational restructuring focused on
conformity. In this way, it can be part of a competitive consortium for future call for tenders. "

The company Emepa no longer has Romero in any management position because he resigned. In this way, the investigator himself in the notebooks would no longer be at the center. That's why Emepa would run.

As announced by LA NACION, the Minister of Transport, Guillermo Dietrich, is preparing the call for bids with strong anti-corruption clauses so that suspicious businessmen do not participate. Bidders must comply with Decree 1023 and the Law on Corporate Criminal Liability. Currently, Hidrovía SA distributes 50% of the dividends to each partner, Jan De Nul and Emepa. But the Belgian says dredging costs are much higher than those of Emepa for markup. "We have 90% of the cost and they, 10%, so the distribution favors them, clearly," said a director of Jan De Nul. But Romero has always told Hidrovía SA his capacity for political negotiation and introduced himself to his partners as a businessman with the closest ties to the UCR.

Meanwhile, Jan De Nul has always contributed to
know how Technical Until 2009, the toll included the route between the ocean and Santa Fe. Since then, the Kirchner government has wanted to extend it to Paraguay in two stages: first from Santa Fe to Corrientes, then from Corrientes to Asunción. Only the first one was made. Jan De Nul claims to the management of Dietrich a debt of 210 million dollars. Now Casa Rosada requires you to reduce the toll by 3.06 USD per ton. "We have no problem to discuss, we will see the specifications, but they owe us money," said a Belgian official who wants the company to materialize.