Mauricio Macri's green light: negotiations with China progress for the construction of the country's fourth nuclear power plant – 03/20/2019

A delegation consisting of two groups of Chinese officials and businessmen is in the country to advance negotiations that, by order of Mauricio Macri, will result in the signing of a contract with Beijing to the construction of the nuclear power plant known as Atucha III.

This is one of dozens of agreements signed under the previous administration, some of which did not materialize and which, after being put in place, were reactivated.

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What will be the fourth plant, which is planned to be built in Lima, Buenos Aires province, plans an investment of 8,000 million dollars.

If the deadlines are met and they have gained momentum, the two governments will seal the deal between April and May, so that in 2020 start some "small" field work (land removal, environmental "adaptations", drainage) and in 2021 the titanic work begins.

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Last year, when the financial crisis hit Argentina and the government heavily resorted to the financial rescue of an IMF millionaire, this one of the economy put an end to the initiatives like this one from Atucha III. For China, which reactivated its nuclear plans internally and externally, this has always been a priority. And he put the nuclear power station on all the conversation tables.

But during the state visit that Xi Jinping made to Argentina as part of the G20 at the end of last year, Macri and the Chinese president explained how to bail out the Atucha III project. Since then, the Deputy Secretary of Energy of the Nation, Julian Gadano, here, and Ambbadador, Diego Guelar, in Beijing, are negotiating this new way of solving a fundamental factor that has slowed down the pace of life. factory, which added a certain disinterest in the change: the agreement with the International Monetary Fund does not allow the state to add public debt, which does not add public deficit. The construction of the plant would add $ 1,000 million a year for seven years.

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According to the information available to this newspaper, even if the negotiations are still open, the problem of increasing the debt could be avoided by transferring it to Nucleoeléctrica Argentina (NA-SA). It's a state enterprise, but for the Monetary Fund, it's a debt that's It will not be charged on the Treasury, but it will be paid through the Chinese loan and, by the way, will also be refunded with increases in electricity rates billed to users. Once the contract is signed, the default loans will enter in 2021.

One of the two technical groups of Chinese officials and businessmen present in the country will now explore the purchases they are going to make and which are being negotiated with Gadano and Ministry members. from production. The plant will employ 40% of local labor and the rest from China. The second group is CNNC, the Chinese nuclear fuel company, which will be responsible for the construction and which will be the CNEA and possibly Argentina Perez Companc.

If it is the Finance Ministry that throughout 2018 objected vehemently to the construction of the nuclear power plant with China, it is Macri himself who decided to go from the front with the central titanic. Those who are close to the president know that in his DNA lies the goal of doing public works. He understands more than other officials in his administration relations with China, thanks to the private efforts of his father, Franco Macria. And this factory is part of an ambitious project that moves major capitals. And although it is not anti nuclear or pro nuclear, Macri realizes that atomic energy is a "badet" very developed in Argentina that does not want to be dismantled.

In another relationship with Beijing, Argentina and China signed an agreement Thursday to allow the entry of Argentine honey into the Asian market. Macri also received the deputy prime minister of the China State Council, the powerful Hu Chunhua.