Thanks to the mega DNU of last December, which is still in force due to the complicity of Peronism and radicalism with the Government, Milei issued a new decree this Monday to privatize four hydroelectric plants located in the south of the country. As stated in the Official Gazette, the regulation extends the concessions to the current operators of the Alicurá, El Chocón, Cerros Colorados and Piedra del Águila dams and then puts the shares in the hands of the State for sale.
The measure published through decree 718/2024, bears the signature of President Javier Milei, the Chief of Cabinet, Guillermo Francos, and the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo. If it is implemented, their names will remain as those responsible for the delivery of natural common goods to concentrated capitals so that they can carry out a guaranteed business. The dams are enormous infrastructure works that were financed with public funds and built with the work of thousands of workers to produce low-pollution and low-cost energy. With the privatization offensive of the 90s, they were granted to a handful of businessmen for 30 years (who in some cases transferred their contracts). A true robbery that no government questioned and that this administration would end up consummating by directly transferring ownership of them.
In the case of hydrocarbon or mining concessions, the extractivist discourse maintains that investments in dollars, machinery and technology are necessary, which the State does not have. In this case, the largest investment has already been made, and the ownership and possession of the concessionaire’s equipment should have been transferred to the State upon expiration of the concessions.
Although the concessions expired in August 2023, the national State made use of the one-year transition period established in the contracts, the limit of which expired this Sunday. However, although it is not provided for by law, Decree 718/2024 extended the operation of the complexes in the hands of the current concessionaires for up to one more year. In the next 6 months, they plan to call for a “National and International Public Tender, competitive and expeditious, in order to proceed with the sale of the majority or controlling share package of each of the companies.”
The concessionaires that will continue to control the dams until they are sold are Orazul Energy (owned by a Mendoza oil company), concessionaire of the Cerros Colorados Hydroelectric Complex; ENEL (owners of Edesur), in El Chocón-Arroyito; AES (with US capital) in Alicurá and Central Puerto (among its shareholders is the Escasany family, owner of Banco de Galicia) in Piedra del Águila.
In the 30 years of the privatized model, the entire energy sector, from its production to distribution variants, has only provided users with a deficient service, with moments of unaffordable rates for the majority of working families and others where the State financed the profits of the companies in the sector through subsidies. The sale of the hydroelectric plants would only worsen this situation and make it more difficult to reverse.
In April, the national deputy of the Left Front, Christian Castillo, together with the provincial legislator from Neuquén, Andrés Blanco, had presented a bill in the National Congress that proposes the prohibition of granting new concessions of dams to private companies. Regarding the operation of a state administration of this type, Castillo had stated: “We propose creating an Interjurisdictional Hydroelectric Energy Entity (EIEH), with the participation of the National State and the Provincial States, but managed by its workers, the communities and the popular users. That is the only way to end private business around what we consider a fundamental natural common good, such as water.” It is the workers, together with university specialists, who can best outline plans to take advantage of the infrastructure already built and how to optimize it to guarantee the supply of water and energy to the great majority.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
