Argentina's Ministry of Economy formally requested $150 million in December from Chinese banks financing the construction of hydroelectric dams in the southern Argentine province of Santa Cruz. These funds are essential to resume work on the Jorge Cepernic dam before the austral winter. This dam had the most significant progress—42%—when the works came to a complete halt two years ago following a government change. President Javier Milei announced he will travel to China to maintain his country's economic ties with Beijing by reviving a key energy project that has been paralyzed for over two years in Santa Cruz. The request for funds from Beijing illustrates the Milei administration's pragmatism in infrastructure financing. Although the president has publicly emphasized his political and strategic alignment with Washington, Buenos Aires keeps trade and financial channels open with China, recognizing the importance of the Asian power as an economic partner and creditor. In this context, the new disbursement requested from China would be added to the $1.850 billion already transferred between 2015 and 2023, as part of a total financing package of $4.714 billion. The 2026 Budget allocated 200 billion pesos to the "Support for the Construction of Hydroelectric Use on the Santa Cruz River" program. The Credit Request The Ministry of Economy, the formal client of the credit before the consortium of Chinese financing banks, made the request after reaching an understanding in October with these entities and the Argentine state company Enarsa—responsible for the project—to guarantee future disbursements. Only the formalization of the transfer request was pending. Once the confirmation of the funds' arrival in the country is received, the construction company—a temporary union of enterprises (UTE) formed by the Chinese giant China Gezhouba Group and the Argentine companies Eling Energía e Hidrocuyo—is expected to call back some of the workers laid off in March 2024 to start the new phase. In October, the construction company already bid on supplies with scheduled delivery from March 2026 and called 2,100 former workers of the more than 3,000 who were working on the site two years ago. According to an agreement signed in July between the national government, the province of Santa Cruz, and the construction UTE, the restart will focus exclusively on the Jorge Cepernic dam. Meanwhile, the future of the Néstor Kirchner powerhouse, whose progress barely reached 20%, is being analyzed. The electrical transmission line to connect the hydroelectric plants to the national grid shows only 5% completion. As part of the preparations, the UTE led by Gezhouba bid in early October for almost 110,000 tons of cement for delivery from March 2026. In parallel, in meetings with Santa Cruz authorities and the UOCRA union, it was agreed to summon former workers to verify their willingness to return and confirm their residence, as provincial legislation requires that 90% of employees on Santa Cruz construction projects reside in the province. Construction work has been paralyzed since December 2023, limited only to minimal maintenance and infrastructure tasks. The UTE's total workforce was reduced from over 3,000 workers in November 2023 to just 120 employees currently. The construction window for the Santa Cruz River area extends as long as until May at most, due to the region's extreme weather conditions, adding urgency to the need to quickly confirm the Chinese disbursement.
