Buenos Aires Herald 
The government has begun the privatization of state-owned highway maintenance company Corredores Viales, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni has announced.
“We will use a model of public works in exchange for toll fees,” Adorni said. He explained that private contractors will handle infrastructure work and logistics for national highways. In exchange, they will be entitled to charge drivers road tolls.
The spokesman also reiterated the government’s commitment to the privatization of public ventures, calling the process “irreversible.”
The presidential press office also announced the decision, saying that “managing highways is not the state’s role.” It said the government had discovered that 3,400 kilometers managed by Corredores Viales (close to 45% of Argentina’s road infrastructure) were “not fit for use.”
According to an official report, in 2023 the company owed suppliers AR$142 billion (US$131 million at the official rate, US$119 million at the MEP rate) and had AR$268 billion in accumulated losses.
Corredores Viales S.A. is currently in charge of ten stretches of highway in Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, Salta, Jujuy, Chaco, Buenos Aires Province, Corrientes, Misiones, San Luis, Córdoba, Santa Fe, and Mendoza. In Buenos Aires City, it is in charge of the highway known as Acceso Ricchieri, which connects the Avenida General Paz freeway surrounding the city with Ezeiza airport.
The Agency for the Transformation of Public Companies (ATEP, by its Spanish initials), part of the Economy Ministry, will be the government body in charge of handling the selection process and the contracts on public works. They will also oversee the dissolution of the public company once all the highways under their purview have been successfully handed over to the private bidders.
