The president of the Uruguayan delegation to the Administrative Commission of the Uruguay River (Caru), Cecilia Bottino, confirmed that the agency is working on the drafting of the specifications for a new international call for maintenance dredging of the Uruguay River, given that the current contract expires in 2026.
In line with what was reported by El Telegrafo, Bottino indicated that “in the plenary session last July, both commissions decided to commission the drafting of the specifications for a new international call for maintenance dredging of the Uruguay River.”
This would be a task currently carried out by the company Jan De Nul NV, based in the city of Aalst, Belgium. “As the contract ends in 2026, we have to hold an international tender again, the preparation of which takes some time,” added the head of Caru.
“Currently our technical staff adjusts the specifications, which when it is ready will be reviewed in a plenary session of the two commissions, making a decision on the call itself,” explained Bottino, stressing that “we are only talking about the maintenance of the dredging as it is currently done.”
The aforementioned addresses between kilometer 0 and 207.8, according to the contract signed for the period 2023-2026. Between kilometer 0 and 187.1 at 23 feet of navigation (25 feet deep), including the access channel to the Port of Concepción del Uruguay and between kilometer 187.1 and 207.8, Port of Paysandú, at 17 feet of navigation (19 feet of depth).
Likewise, Bottino clarified that the meeting of the expanded committee of the Committee for the Development of the Uruguay River Basin, held in Concepción del Uruguay, “I attended as president of the Uruguayan delegation of CARU, not as a representative of CARU, which has two delegations.”
“Consequently, I was not authorized to speak on behalf of the international body. I reaffirmed, as a Uruguayan delegation, our commitment to policies that promote the development of the waterway,” he concluded.
