The Neuquén Government has started negotiations to take control of a complex of 140 unfinished homes on the Centenario plateau and complete it with provincial resources. The project began in 2022 within the Procrear program, was stalled in 2023, and shows an estimated progress of between 40% and 50%. The solution depends on a financial agreement with Banco Hipotecario, which mediated in the development.
The Minister of Infrastructure, Tanya Bertoldi, explained that the halt of national public works and the subsequent elimination of the federal Habitat area left the Province without an interlocutor to review the pending plans. Neuquén then decided to take on some tasks originally funded by the Nation and has already completed, among others, 16 houses from a federal program in Zapala.
The case of Centenario has a different structure because the construction was carried out through Banco Hipotecario and not directly with national funds. The Procrear combined residential development with soft loans for those who would acquire the units. However, the 140 houses did not have any assigned owners, so the interruption did not leave families previously designated waiting for a formal delivery.
The first conversation between the Province and the bank took place a month ago, during a meeting in Buenos Aires with representatives of the CAF and financial entities. Bertoldi proposed analyzing how much corresponds to pay for what has already been built and completing the rest with own funds. So far, he stated, the bank has offered few alternatives, although the Ministry of Infrastructure seeks to reach an understanding before the end of the year.
If the negotiation prospers, the next step will be to inspect the condition of the complex and calculate the time and cost of completion. Three years of abandonment may have altered the needs compared to the original project, so the percentage of progress is not enough to determine the remaining budget. The Province will also have to define the future allocation mechanism, since there is no previous list of beneficiaries.
Management is part of a broader housing policy. The Neuquén Habita program and the credit lines for construction or expansion gather 3,400 pre-registered individuals. A significant part lacked land surveying or title deeds, so a loan for property regularization was added. In Centenario, the immediate priority is different: to close the agreement with the Mortgage Bank, evaluate the existing construction, and determine if the 140 houses can be reactivated with provincial financing.
