After the victory of the La Libertad Avanza candidate, Javier Mileyin it Sunday runoffthis Tuesday it was confirmed that Guillermo Ferraro will lead the new Ministry of Infrastructure starting December 10, by decision of the president-elect.
The new official will be in charge of five key areas of management: Transport, Public works, Mining, Energy and Communications. This is due to process of “rationalization of the State and the public sector” that the leader of the ultra-right faces, as Ferraro himself explained this morning in dialogue with Miter Radio.
Meanwhile, the new member of the Cabinet of the La Libertad Avanza government stated: “The approach we have is that The State has to reduce its participation in the economy to give space to the private sector”. And he emphasized: “We are going to try to guide, stimulate and incentivize the private sector“.
In that sense, Ferraro clarified that The new “super ministry” will seek to provide “guidance” and adapt to “the guidelines for the Nation of the projects that involve the areas”. Furthermore, he said that “the country has a delay of more than 20 years in infrastructure”.
Likewise, the next minister confirmed that the Secretary of Energy will be Eduardo Rodríguez Chirilobut did not delve into the other secretaries who will respond to him in the different areas that Infrastructure will cover.
Who is Guillermo Ferraro
In the final stretch of the Government of Alberto Fernández, Javier Milei began to reveal who will be the officials who will make up his Cabinet from December 10. Among other names, that of Guillermo Ferrarowho He directed the Argentine headquarters of KPGM for 13 yearsa multinational that offers professional auditing, legal and tax advice, and financial and business advisory services in 156 countries.
The brand new official of the new era of privatizations in Argentina He completed his studies at nothing more and nothing less than the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) –for now, public and free-, where he obtained four professional degrees: he has a degree in Administration, Certified Public Accountant, Doctor in Economic Sciencesand also has a postgraduate degree in Systems engineering.
Ferraro has experience in the public sector since the beginning of the nineties. Was the Undersecretary of Infrastructure and Telecommunications of the province of Buenos Aires during the administration of the former governor Antonio Cafiero, during the presidential term of Carlos Saul Menem.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he was the “Director responsible for new businesses and infrastructure projects” from April 2010 and April 2023. Then, in recent months, he dedicated himself to offering the same service but in an independent way.
“Until Sunday I was in charge of the National Coordination of Inspection from Freedom Advancesagainst enormous pressure and tension,” Ferraro remarked this Tuesday in the interview, and proudly noted that “it came out impeccable.”
The new minister gave few clues as to who will accompany him in his mandate: although he announced that Eduardo Rodríguez Chirilo will be in charge of the energy area, he did not want to reveal who will lead Communications, but he did say: “It is a fairly intense team with people who have held positions at Enacom, highly proven, with experience in the public sector“.
Privatization, as a central axis
Ferraro pointed out that one of the priorities will be to encourage private sector investment in Infrastructure. For that, he said “absolutely.” They will be governed by a “Chilean-style” model.
After questioning the numerous incomplete or abandoned works that exist throughout the Argentine territory, he pointed out that The problem lies in “the law of concessions“, that they will seek to reform.
“Due to laziness, lack of will, or incompetence, almost all railway, energy, hydroelectric and other concessions, which have their origin in the 90s, expired in recent years and the administrations did not generate new conditionsso all those works that were done and granted to the private sector Today they are in a precarious portfolio, of extensions, of precarious tenures“, held.
And he clarified: “Since mid-2018, no investments have been made in the existing infrastructure, because The private does not know if it will continue or not, and no concession is called“.
For this reason, he maintained that the Milei government believes “that if there is a demand from a userthere is an investment opportunity.”
According to their estimates, and those of “multilateral organizations such as sectoral chambers”, the investment that must be made “at least in value the existing infrastructure and the new“occupies about”15 annual GDP points“.
And he highlighted: “It is impossible to support it from the public sector with the public budget. “Currently the 1 percent is dedicated with a lot of financing problems.”
In that sense, he clarified that although it will be the private sector that will receive the incentives to invest, “The projects that society is going to see will always be very important“.
Meanwhile, one of the proposals that Milei’s new minister has planned for the country in the next four years are “carry out the infrastructure for Vaca Muerta, seriously”.
“Dead cow requires tons of sand and a lot of water, and today water does not exist, there is no loading operation that is more efficient“Everything is done by trucks, there is no train,” he criticized.
In that sense, he noted that “There is a huge opportunity in Argentina to invest for the private sector” and from his role he added: “We believe that there must be a credible government”.
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