The governor of Santiago del Estero, Elías Suárez, traveled to San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca to sign an agreement with his counterpart Raúl Jalil and national authorities. The planned agreement seeks to launch a network of aqueducts and water treatment plants in Región del Albigasta, shared by western Santiago del Estero and eastern Catamarca.
The official agenda included the Chief of the Nation's Cabinet, Diego Santilli, and the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo. The company was scheduled for 11.30, after a meeting at the Center for Applied Art and Technology. The program also included another agreement between Catamarca and the Nation for the maintenance of national routes.
The water project was tendered by the national Government with funds from Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. It is part of the comprehensive use of río Albigasta, whose first stage was the El Bolsón dam, built in the east of Catamarca. From that reservoir, a network of approximately 50 kilometers is planned to transport water to the affected localities.
The reported budget is close to ARS 100,000 million, and the official estimate indicates that it would benefit nearly 36.000 inhabitants. The system would supply the department Choya, in Santiago del Estero, and La Paz, in Catamarca. The scope combines human consumption and conditions for economic activities in a territory where the availability of the resource is scarce and seasonal.
The basin has streams that usually infiltrate before they can be used locally. The río Albigasta is identified as the only source of good quality water with a permanent flow in the area. Regulation through the El Bolsón dam would allow diverting its contributions to populations affected by a deficit that limits settlements and tourism, livestock, and forestry development.
The announced schedule positioned the company as the institutional step to start execution, but it did not amount to a completed work nor to the immediate activation of the service. The result will depend on the fulfillment of the agreement, the disbursements, and the progress of the contracts. The projected infrastructure has an interprovincial scope and requires sustained technical and administrative coordination and monitoring between Santiago del Estero, Catamarca, and the Nation.
