Máximo Kirchner participated in the closing campaign of
Emanuel Coliñir, the mayoral candidate for La Cámpora in Trelew
.
He traveled 1,200 kilometers to reach the city of Chubut.
During his speech, he was pleased that progress was being made on a route that 17 years ago was awarded to
Lázaro Báez.
It is a work that integrates the list of
contracts with overprices
that were consigned in the trial against the vice president and that were taken as evidence for the conviction for corruption.
The first time that the work highlighted by the national deputy was tendered on September 28, 2006. The contest had been organized in three sections, which were left in the hands of Lázaro Báez due to a particularity: only companies from his holding company competed,
one
of the aspects consigned by justice as part of the cartelization of public works.
This contract is part of the 51 tenders directed in favor of the Austral Group, analyzed in the trial that concluded with a six-year prison sentence for Cristina Kirchner and her former business partner.
During the first stage of the oral debate, the Court ordered that the contract that had accumulated, by then, fifteen years without completion, be examined.
The report exposed
price premiums of $170 million to $200 million
in a sampling of five routes.
Rescinded by the Cambiemos government, it was tendered again and was
awarded to CPC SA, owned by Cristóbal López
, who ended up sued for abandonment of work and non-compliance with deadlines.
These works on Route 3 were qualified by justice as
an "emblem of corruption."
The government of Alberto Fernández reorganized the contract and put it out to tender again in two tranches, with a general budget of
10,000 million pesos.
The first section corresponds to Rada Tilly -border between Chubut and Santa Cruz- and is in charge of the company RIGEL SRL, with a term of 24 months for an amount of 3,266,355,406.37 pesos.
The second work is the most expensive and was again in charge of the CPC company of Cristóbal López.
It was required to carry out the work within a period of 30 months, and responds to the section of National Route 3 between the border between Chubut and Santa Cruz-Caleta Olivia.
It is the most expensive section:
6,692,980,587.47 pesos.
Máximo Kirchner praised the progress of the works on this route, which has been in the hands of the same businessman for 17 years, his mother's former business partner, and which has never been
finished.
“I thought about it when I came,
it is 1,200 kilometers by land
so I had time to think, it is kilometers and kilometers,
I saw how the highway that is very important for Chubut and Santa Cruz, the Comodoro Rivadavia-Caleta Olivia highway, is being finished
thank God .
I saw everything that we still need to do, there are always things to do”, said Máximo during the closing of the campaign.
The questioned work
National Route 3, one of the country's main road corridors, has a section in southern Patagonia that remains an outstanding debt.
There are 73.6 kilometers that connect Santa Cruz with Chubut,
and which were tendered in 2006: at that time and until 2015 the work was in the hands of Lázaro Báez,
had an average progress of 36% and estimated cost overruns of more than 300% .
During the management of Cambiemos, an effort was made to lower the costs of the work and the public tender was made for 1,569 million pesos.
At that time, the best offer was made by Cristóbal López but suffered the same fate as in the hands of Lázaro Báez: the contract was terminated for breach of deadlines.
According to the injunction,
the progress did not exceed 5%
and the businessman K was sued for abandonment of work.
The government of Alberto Fernández organized on this occasion the call for public bidding in two tranches for a general value of 10,000 million pesos.
Cristóbal Lopez submitted to the compulsa of prices to make the two tranches.
He only managed to prevail in one of them, the most expensive.
The path that Lazarus abandoned
It is a route with history and was part of the trial for alleged corruption in public works against the vice president and the owner of Grupo Austral.
The original project -with its three sections-, had a cost of 674 million pesos and with
an average of 37% completion
, the Government of Cristina Kirchner ended up paying two construction companies of Lázaro Báez $2,892 million:
329% more.
The specific section that was now awarded to Cristóbal López had a cost, when it was awarded to Lázaro Báez, of 313 million pesos.
With an average advance of 30%, he ended up paying 1,309 million pesos
, according to the audit incorporated into the trial against Cristina Kirchner.
There was more.
An official expertise ordered in 2019 by the Federal Oral Court 2 (TOF 2) exposed overpricing of an average of 50 million dollars, only in this section that goes from kilometer 1867 to 1908.60.
It was said that between the real value of the work and what was paid there was a difference of more than 165 million pesos.
For the prosecutor's experts, that difference was 189 million pesos.
look too
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