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The company Jan De Nul-Sermarvins has been pre-awarded the new concession for the Trunk Waterway, after winning the bidding process aimed at modernizing Argentina's main fluvial route for foreign trade.
The decision was made after the technical and economic evaluation of the submitted offers, within the framework of a procedure supervised under international standards, reported the Ministry of Economy.
As officially detailed, the recommendation for the award emerged from the pre-award opinion prepared after analyzing the submitted offers. The Executive highlighted that the procedure had previously established evaluation criteria and the participation of United Nations observers to guarantee the transparency of the process.
The offer from the Belgian company Jan De Nul obtained the best overall rating, reaching 66.20 points, surpassing the company of the same origin, Deme, which achieved 62.14 points. According to the report, both companies presented similar economic proposals, although the difference was in technical aspects related to the provision of the service and the modernization plans for the waterway.
The Government also noted that the proposal submitted by the Brazilian firm DTA Engenharia was declared inadmissible because it did not comply with the required conditions for bid bond, a condition considered indispensable in the bidding terms.
The authorities emphasized that the selected offer includes an immediate reduction of approximately 15% in the current tariff, a measure that, they estimate, will have a direct impact on reducing logistics costs for productive sectors that use the waterway to export their goods.
Period for submitting observations and challenges
The Trunk Waterway is a strategic infrastructure for the Argentine economy, as approximately 80% of the country's foreign trade circulates through it. In this regard, the Executive stated that the new concession will unlock investments and works considered necessary to update the infrastructure and improve the operational efficiency of the system.
The Government also highlighted that during the different evaluation stages, no formal challenges were registered by the participants in the tender. They also recalled that the legal complaints filed during the process were rejected, which, according to the official version, contributed to consolidating the legitimacy of the procedure.
Finally, the National Agency of Ports and Navigation announced that a period of seven calendar days will open for the submission of observations or challenges to the documentation related to the pre-award. Once this instance is completed, the agency will proceed with the final administrative steps to finalize the definitive award of the concession for the fluvial corridor.
