By Andrés Ferreira.
Dr. Carlos Albisu -president of the Salto Grande Mixed Technical Commission- held meetings last week with the President of the Republic, Luis Lacalle Pou, where they discussed logistics development issues that are intended to be promoted in the Salto Grande area. To find out more details, CAMBIO interviewed Albisu, who provided information on the matter.
BARGE PORT
Albisu pointed out that the barge port will be located on a tributary of the Uruguay River about 6 kilometers from the dam, with a very important draft for the different types of barges. In addition, he said that navigation is discussed in two stages, one from the port 60 kilometers from the Uruguayana, which would be with a greater amount of cargo, approximately 1200 tons, and the other part would be about 600 kilometers from Salto, in the Sao Borja area, which would cover less cargo, about 500 tons. “The financing of the barge port will be totally private, around 30 million dollars and it is specifically thought about soybeans, trying to arrive in time and form for the 2022 harvest,” he added. “Other areas are also interested in taking cargo to the Uruguay River, the reason is that the Paraná River is dry and it is thought that in the coming years it will continue in the same way,” he added.
THEY BET ON A LOGISTICS NODE
On the other hand, Albisu assured that he is betting on a “multimodal logistics node”. “Currently around 35,000 trucks pass through Salto Grande per year, a large quantity coming from Paraguay, they are willing to lower their load halfway, precisely in Salto Grande, to exchange containers loaded with those that carry merchandise from Montevideo to Paraguay. That way they would always be traveling with cargo, a dry port project is being proposed ”, he said. “A lot of cargo that left through the Paraná River, has to leave by land and in this way it would save money for the trucking companies, because they would do fewer kilometers and always loaded, it would also be a pole of attraction towards that area of the Salto- bridge. Concord ”he added. “The dry port is under study by the technicians, the space already exists and is very wide, it meets the conditions for a dry port, another important point is that the investments would not be very large, it is necessary to invest more than anything in infrastructure, mechanics and technology, years ago when the dam was built they could have thought about this ”he said.
RAIL LOAD
Regarding the possibility of rail freight, Albisu said that the 70-kilometer gap between Queguay and Salto Grande would be closed, and meetings have already been held with Argentine railway companies in the binational area, in which they demonstrated the good condition of their tracks. The freight railway would be reactivated again in Salto after 30 years through the railway union that exists with Argentina through the Salto-Concordia bridge. Regarding the meetings with Lacalle Pou, consulted by the President’s response to all these logistical impulses, Albisu affirmed “the President of the Republic has a clear interest in all these logistical issues.”