A Road Fund Has More Than $ 400 Million Unused Money but Pays Works With Money from the National Treasury
<p style="text-align:justify">The Trust is the Integrated Road System, consisting of a tax on diesel and part of the income of highways. The surplus is counted to 2008. According to the Auditor General's Office, the SIGEN had already warned in 2006 that the unused funds never fell below $ 200 million. The Audit could not know what projects are funded with these resources.</p>
The Trust Integrated Road System (SISVIAL) is a fund for the implementation of road infrastructure, which the General Audit Office (AGN) was until 2008 a 'surplus of $ 440 million "unused, while still, performing payments with funds from the National Treasury.
This situation, says the Watchdog, was warned by the Comptroller General's Office (SIGEN, for its acronym in Spanish), which in turn details that "the surplus resources that were not applied were never less than $200 million," at least until mid-2006.
The SISVIAL is framed in Transport Infrastructure System (SIT), which will transfer 80% of its resources. The fund comprises the "tax on diesel oil ($ 0.05 per liter)" established by Decree 976/01, "income from concession contracts brokers of the National Road Network, the proceeds of its operations and investment trust assets, "among others.
The AGN said it could not know the works to be financed by the trust because "there is no plan of road works", although "there are funds available" and that Decree 1377 of 2001 established that the Enforcement Authority, the then Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing, set an immediate time after the creation of the SIT (2001) plan.
What and how much money should be financed and received by the SISVIAL?
According to the report, there were decrees that modified the operation of SISVIAL trust as beneficiaries, the trust property and the fate of the same, but since 2002 no rules or in the indenture are fully updated.
In addition, the watchdog said the SIGEN already warned in a 2008 report on the "absence" of a contract that includes changes. Meanwhile, the Coordination Unit Trust Infrastructure (UCOFIN) the same year raised the Ministry of Planning "ordered a draft text of the contract," although "it was not provided to the AGN."
Lack of "integrity" in deed and payments
According to the report, the beneficiaries of the Trust are the road dealers, the National Roads Authority, contractors and infrastructure services, the Appellate Highway Concession (OCCOVI) and those determined by the National Government.
With regard to payments for works, the AGN compared the record of the UCOFIN (in charge of financial planning), with data from Banco de la Nacion Argentina (which has payments), and found that the agencies had registered transactions the same amount, and record date, but with different companies. Such is the case of payment to the company Skanska - Vialbaires SA Ute, for more than $ 400 billion contained in the Bank, while the recorded UCOFIN payment on behalf of Vialbires SA.
Finally, the National Audit Office also noted that there were "differences in the amounts of payments for the same work and business, between the sheets of the National Bank and the UCOFIN".