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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