Autopistas del Sol ruling eases pressure on PRO, echoes in Macri camp and forces government to define toll rates

Driving on the Panamericana is currently the cheapest way into Buenos Aires by car. At peak times, the toll on Acceso Norte costs about 20 pesos per kilometre, compared with 40 on Acceso Oeste, 50 on the Riccheri-Ezeiza-Cañuelas route, 83 on Camino del Buen Ayre, 90 on the Buenos Aires-La Plata highway and as much as 403 on the city routes operated by AUSA.

Autopistas del Sol, the only concessionaire from the 1990s privatisation wave still operating, has the lowest toll among the metropolitan access roads. What had been a specialist traffic detail has now become a political and financial issue. The courts have cleared the company in a criminal case that began in 2019, and a tariff renegotiation is expected to follow.

Case 4730/19 examined the renegotiation of some of the metropolitan area's most sensitive toll contracts. Judge Daniel Rafecas dismissed Andrés Barberis, the former head of Autopistas del Sol and Grupo Concesionario del Oeste, and rejected the claim that the Integral Renegotiation Agreements signed in 2018 had caused financial harm to the state.

The court relied on a 2023 interdisciplinary expert report prepared by the Supreme Court's expert body together with specialists representing the parties. The report was signed without dissent and concluded that the agreements had not harmed the state. The court instead assessed that they had allowed the state to settle an outstanding debt in a less costly way.

The proceedings against former Cambiemos officials Javier Iguacel, Guillermo Dietrich, Bernardo Saravia Frías and Ricardo Stoddart also ended, though through statutes of limitation declared between June and July. The prosecution, National Roads Directorate and Financial Information Unit did not appeal, leaving the decisions final. The ruling has consequently eased pressure on PRO and cleared the way for the government to define the next toll arrangement.