Internal transports infraestructure in Argentina and its impact on provincial exports

GRANATO, MARÍA FLORENCIA; MONCARZ, PEDRO ESTEBAN

Integration & Trade

Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2010 vol. 14 p. 33 - 33

1995-9532

he design of Argentina´s transport infrastructure puts the regions farthest from the Rosario/Buenos Aires port cluster at a disadvantage. Most of the country´s physical investments and services are concentrated in the center-east of its territory, with branches extending toward the Litoral, the west, and, to a lesser degree, the Argentine Northwest. Similarly, foreign sales are heavily concentrated in the center-east, where the main customs posts are located. This takes on more relevance in the case of exports of Primary Commodities and Manufactures of Agricultural Origin (MOA), items that account for a great deal of most territories? foreign sales. This work seeks, via a simulation exercise, to approximate the effects of improved transport technology on total transportation costs and, hence, on the international competitiveness of the Argentine provinces. We have found that, if the cost of a 1,500km benchmark journey were to be reduced by 10%, th