Transport infrastructure and accumulation models in the central region of Argentina. Contributions to the study of the Bioceanic Corridor Porto Alegre- Santa Fe- Coquimbo

Abstract

During the first decade of the 21st century, after the collapse of the neoliberal accumulation model, infrastructure plans and programs were developed in Latin America that sought to re-adapt the existing infrastructure to the new dynamics of flow circulation, especially as a result of an increase in the export of commodities and an increase in the international demand for raw materials.

These plans, initiatives and programs - the South American Regional Infrastructure Integration Initiative, the Puebla Panama Plan, the South American Infrastructure and Planning Council, among others - were redesigning the regional geography in terms of new corridors. In this sense, at present, multimodal logistics and bi-ocean circulation are important aspects of regional transportation and large-scale infrastructures (ports, airports, highways, tunnels, railways, pipelines, gas pipelines, etc.) are located in the territories in order to guarantee fluidity.

The central region of Argentina - made up of the provinces of Entre Ríos, Santa Fe and Córdoba - is an important example of this re-adaptation in circulation with the aim of building a bi-oceanic corridor articulated multimodally with the Paraguay-Paraná waterway, which is the most important export route in Argentina.

The following paper analyzes how the export infrastructure is articulated and developed in a nodal territory in the expansion of the dominant model of accumulation in Argentina, characterized by productive reprimarization, economic concentration and foreign ownership.

With this analytical purpose, the general objective of this work is to study the way in which productive activities and, fundamentally, international trade, in a historical context marked by the fragmentation of production and the increase of global flows, drive the construction of certain infrastructure macrosystems, which are conditioning factors in the social and economic organization of the territory.

The methodological question that guided this research is what infrastructure is promoted in the central region and for what model of accumulation. The result of this work is based on other research developed and in progress, and shows that the hegemonic infrastructure programs do not promote the integration of the regional territory -on the contrary, they fragment pre-existing territorialities- but rather the articulation of the primary production of the region with the needs of the main industrialized centers.