The agreement with CHEC Dredging Company Limited includes maintenance and correction dredging of the access channel, the harbor, docks, inland channels and navigation areas.
Part of the works to bring the port of Montevideo to a depth of 14 meters will be carried out, initially, by a Chinese consortium with which there was a contract prior to this government. The administration is now working on searching for financing and one of the options being handled is the Bank of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay (BROU).
After the authorization of the Administrative Commission of the Río de la Plata (CARP) for the deepening, the National Port Administration (ANP) and the Ministry of Transportation (MTOP) began the analysis to determine who would be in charge of developing the works. .
The Minister of Transportation, José Luis Falero, explained in Parliament that after the endorsement of the CARP, several meetings were held with ANP technical teams with the aim of drawing up a schedule that would show visible progress in the short term.
Previous ANP contract
The first works are being carried out by ANP dredgers and began on Thursday, April 25. To speed up subsequent tasks, other alternatives were evaluated and there the authorities found themselves with a current contract - signed on December 20, 2019 - from a tender that had been awarded on November 20, 2018 to the Chinese consortium CHEC. Dredging Company Limited.
The agreement includes maintenance dredging and correction of the access channel, the port, docks, interior channels and navigation areas of the port of Montevideo. It establishes that these works could be carried out in up to five stages. With this commitment assumed, it was decided not to execute the entire tender and start with 20%, something allowed in the contract. That possibility was raised by the president of the ANP, Juan Curbelo.
“That does not mean that we use 100% if it is not convenient. If you ask me how to move forward and if 100% of the tender has to be used, I would say that it could be an option,” Falero mentioned. “I don't know if it's the most convenient thing; Maybe this administration won't have to solve it,” he added. The amount associated with this first stage is US$30 million.
“We understand that for the Uruguayan State it is necessary and convenient to use it (20%); Otherwise we would have to pay it, because there is an obligation to do so,” he said.
From that decision, a stage of dialogue with CHEC began. This negotiation seeks to reach an agreement on the cost of dredging at the port and that the values are in line with work carried out in other ports in the region. The MTOP and the ANP hope that this process will culminate in the coming days.
There is also the possibility of making a public call to obtain reference values that can be compared with the current ones, provided by the Chinese company. But for Falero that decision should be evaluated during the next government. “The dredging system worldwide has incorporated new technologies and perhaps prices can be improved,” he noted.
Curbelo said that the intention is to complement the tasks between the Uruguayan dredgers and those of the Chinese company. The local ones will work in the access channel and the Chinese ones in the port.
The president of the ANP estimated that the improvement at the port could begin in a couple of months. The completion of all works is scheduled for the end of 2025.
Cost and financing of dredging
With advanced negotiations with CHEC, we are now seeking to define what the financing will be like. Falero pointed out to the legislators that the ANP has already been entrusted with important projects and exemplified with the viaduct inaugurated at the end of 2022.
“The port was charged with the responsibility of financing even though it was not theirs,” he recalled. For this opportunity, financing was obtained after exchanges between the Ministries of Economy and Transportation. For this case, Falero estimated that the same path can be followed. “I'm going to help you look for financing. “That is work we have left to do,” he said.
The minister stated that one of the possibilities to obtain resources with which to undertake the works is Banco República and added that he has already maintained contacts with the institution. "There are chances; It is not an amount that complicates much,” he commented.
Deepening of the port of Montevideo
Curbelo recalled that the objective of deepening the access channel to the port of Montevideo has been going on for years. “We started with 10 meters, then we went to 11. In 2022 we achieved, with our own dredgers, the goal of 13 meters,” he said.
The bet now is to reach 14 meters that will give Montevideo a differential over Buenos Aires. “We have already had a positive impact.
We envision that the port will definitely be the hub port of the Río de la Plata,” he noted.
