AySA's privatization advances: the Government enables the sale of shares and cuts for non-payment

DNU 493/2025 opens the door to the privatization of the AMBA water and sanitation company and authorizes the suspension of the service in the event of default. Water, an essential right, is up for debate.

The national government formalized a new step towards the privatization of Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos S.A. (AySA) by enabling the sale of shares in the state-owned company, allowing the entry of private capital and authorizing water service cuts for non-payment.

This measure is part of a comprehensive reform of the regulatory framework for the provision of public drinking water and sewage services in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA), established by the Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) 493/2025, published this Tuesday in the Official Gazette.

Changes in the shareholder structure

The regulation modifies Article 2 of Decree No. 304/06, which established that 90% of AySA's capital stock belongs to the National State and provided that these shares were "non-transferable" and that this proportion "could not be reduced as a result of any corporate operation."

With the new regulation, it was determined that "the National State may totally or partially dispose of its shareholding," officially enabling the total or partial privatization of the company that provides water and sewerage services in the AMBA.

New management powers

The decree incorporates a series of additional authorizations for the concessionaire company, the most controversial being the possibility of interrupting the supply in the event of user debts. The main built-in powers include:

• Service cut off due to delay: The company will be able to suspend the supply in case of non-payment, a measure that was not allowed for almost two decades.
• Broad audit powers: It will have extended powers to review and technically audit all the works executed within the regulated area.
• Financial guarantees: It may constitute as guarantees the funds from the exploitation of the concession contract to support the financing intended for the provision of the public service.
• Tariff revisions: The new framework allows for ordinary and extraordinary tariff revisions, with automatic adjustments in periods not exceeding three months.

Strategic Improvement Master Plan

The reform entrusts the Planning Agency (APLA) with the creation of a Master Plan for Strategic Improvement that must establish the guidelines and technical strategies for the development of basic infrastructure works that enable the expansion and extension of the public service, including project schedules, sources of financing and executing agencies.

The decree establishes that the concession contract may provide for a transitional regime to allow an orderly and progressive implementation of the new provisions for a maximum period of five years once the privatization is formalized, with the aim of maintaining the balance of the economic-financial equation of the contract.

Government justification

In the official text, the Government argues the changes by arguing that "the design of the current regime does not adjust to the current needs of expansion, sustainability and efficiency that the provision of the service requires, having been conceived for a state management model that does not adequately contemplate the necessary conditions to promote new investments and expand coverage".

Likewise, the administration justifies the measure in the "context of deep economic crisis" that "severely limits the capacity of the State to sustain and expand the provision of public service." This critical situation, according to the decree, "is evidenced by the growing operational and financial deterioration of AySA, whose current structure is insufficient to respond to the growing demands for coverage, quality and sustainability."

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Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni announced Monday that President Javier Milei signed a decree that eliminates the National Highway Directorate and other agencies in the area, after the confirmation of Cristina Kirchner's conviction for acts of corruption in the construction of roads.

"This body was created to simplify corruption," Adorni said at a press conference at the Government House.

In this context, he pointed out that Milei "ordered the  definitive closure of the National Highway Directorate and also of the National Commission of Traffic and Road Safety and the National Road Safety Agency."

"In this way, the National Commission for Transport Regulation, known as the CNRT, will be reorganized, which will be renamed the Agency for Control and Concessions of Public Transport Services and will be the enforcement authority in terms of rules and administrative acts related to the inspection of road concessions," he explained.

In this context, he anticipated that the Government will begin the bidding process for 9120 kilometers of roads that "after decades of waste and corruption were degraded as never before in history."

"Corruption in public works has its death certificate signed today and has just been signed by the president," remarked the spokesman and clarified that the closure of the agencies occurs within the framework of the powers delegated by  the Congress of the nation to the Executive Branch.

Adorni, in addition to highlighting the use that the libertarian government gave to these powers, stressed that Milei did not extend their validity, as did other presidents who preceded him.

"It starts with a symbol, it ends with a symbol. It begins with INADI which, as Manuel said, is for us the clearest representation of the political use of the State and to use the State to impose an ideological vision on Argentines, and ends with Vialidad, which is the icon of Kirchnerist corruption," added the Minister of Deregulation and Transformation of the State, Federico Sturzenegger.  responsible for changes.

What do the changes in Roads imply?

"The National Highway Commission, an organization that incredibly controlled itself, that's why we had the Vialidad case. The National Road Safety  Agency was eliminated, which could not control traffic without the support of the security forces, now the task is carried out by the Gendarmerie, which controls 2.5 million cars per year, at 80,000 checkpoints," Adorni explained.

Federico Sturzenegger said that Javier Milei will entertain on Wednesday some 200 officials responsible for the deregulation of the State

He also said that the CNRT had been left "practically without competences with the deregulation of Transport" and that the functions of control of trains and public services will pass under the orbit of the new agency created.

Ads linked to the Health area

Adorni also announced that the administrative, financial and legal management of five national hospitals was unified: Sommer, Posadas, Carrillo, Bonaparte and Inareps, constituting the National Administration of Health Establishments.

He also reported that the federal health delegations were eliminated; the power of the national Executive Branch to create new hospitals under the figure of the Comprehensive Medical Care Service for the Community (SAMIC) was annulled; the National Cancer Institute was transformed  into an organizational unit of the Ministry of Health, and functions were reorganized at the ANLIS Malbrán.

The National Institute of Tropical Medicine and the Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases were dissolved; and the Agency of the National Hemp and Medical Cannabis Industry, which said that the latter is "the example of agencies that are created with the sole purpose of making money".

Other announcements

Among the announcements made on Monday by the presidential spokesman, he explained that the National Institute of Family, Peasant and Indigenous Agriculture; the National Institute of Seeds; Inadi; the Juan Domingo Perón Institute and the Permanent Commission in Tribute to General Juan Domingo Perón, among other organizations, were dissolved.

He also reported that national institutes such as the Sanmartiniano, Theater and Viticulture, INTI and Tecnópolis, among others, were transformed into organizational units; and the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA); the National Bank of Genetic Data, among others, and that the Museum of the former ESMA and the National Archive of Memory were merged into the International Center for the Promotion of Human Rights.

In addition, the National Electricity Regulatory Entity (ENRE) and the National Gas Regulatory Entity (Enargas) merged, constituting the National Gas and Electricity Regulatory Entity; the Transport Safety Board changed its functions and its name to the Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Agency.

In the case of the Financial Information Unit (FIU), he said that "it was adapted to the standards required by the Financial Action Task Force, known to you as the FATF."

With regard to Anses, he announced that "credits were eliminated" so that "the State does not give away retirees' money at ridiculous rates for political purposes."

In that process, he mentioned:

• The automotive transport of cargoes was deregulated, including the RUTA
• The request for free debt to sanitary works was eliminated.
• Removed builder registration.
• The auto parts market was simplified.
• Unnecessary procedures that limited competition in digital services were eliminated.
• The mandatory "Educating in Equality" days were eliminated.
• The National Fund for the Construction of Military Service Housing was eliminated.
• The Mint was transformed.
• The privatization of Intercargo, Corredores Viales and Energía Argentina Sociedad Anónima was authorized.
• Layers of programs, training, registrations and promotions of the SME Law were eliminated.
• Imports for science and technology were liberalized.
• The regimes for the promotion of sheep farming, llamas, silkworms, goat activity, cattle farming in arid and semi-arid areas, water buffaloes and cotton production were repealed.
• The import of batteries was deregulated.
• The market for bottles was deregulated and imports were liberalized.
• 29 trust funds were dissolved.
• The National Entity of Water Works of Sanitation was dissolved.
• It merged by absorption of the construction of housing for the Navy by Playas Ferroviarias de Buenos Aires Sociedad Anónima.
• Energy laws 24,076 and 24,065 were modified so that any private party can contract electricity with the supplier of their choice.
• Private initiative was freed up for the expansions of the electricity grid to promote the expansion of the grid.
• Tourism Law 25,997 was amended in order to eliminate state interventions that distort the market and national competencies in the field of regional tourism, such as the social hotels of Chapadmalal and Embalse.

"This has been the result of this first stage of the chainsaw plan that, as you know and we have said it a thousand times, this chainsaw as far as we are concerned is infinite," Adorni concluded.

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Argentina under polar wave

The polar wave in argentina is a meteorological phenomenon characterized by a sudden and significant drop in temperatures, due to the entry of a mass of cold air from the Antarctic continent or the south of the country. These polar waves tend to especially affect the central, southern and eastern regions of Argentina, although they can sometimes extend northwards.

Explanation of the phenomenon

Polar waves occur when a high-pressure system pushes very cold air from Antarctica towards Argentine territory. This can happen due to:

• Advance of a cold front associated with a low pressure system.
• Influence of the polar wind, which carries frigid air to lower latitudes.
• Loss of cloudiness, which favors nighttime cooling (frost).

Duration

A polar wave in Argentina usually lasts between 3 and 7 days, although in extreme cases it can persist longer, especially in Patagonia. The lowest temperatures are usually recorded during the early morning and early hours of the morning.

Geographical scope

The most affected regions are:

• Patagonia (Chubut, Santa Cruz, Tierra del Fuego): temperatures below zero, snowfall and intense winds.
• Center of the country (Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Córdoba, south of Santa Fe): intense frosts, minimums close to 0°C or below.
• Cuyo and northern Argentina (in extreme cases): notable decline, although less intense than in the south.

Impact

• Agriculture: Damage to crops due to frost.
• Energy: Increase in electricity consumption due to heating.
• Health: Risk of hypothermia and respiratory diseases.
• Transportation: Possible road closures due to snow or ice (especially in Patagonia).

Example:

In June 2024, a polar wave affected much of Argentina, with temperatures of -12°C in Bariloche and -5°C in Buenos Aires, accompanied by unusual snowfall in low-lying areas.

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