"The process for the construction of the binational center is moving forward," said the vice president of the Uruguayan delegation of the Uruguay River Administrative Commission (CARU), Rogelio Texeira, after signing the contract to prepare the executive project for the joint environmental laboratory with Argentina, which will require a period of 120 days. The complex, which will be built in Fray Bentos, will be a benchmark in South America.
The president of CARU, together with the Argentine Mauro Vazón and the heads of the Gualano & Gualano studio, signed the contract to develop the executive project for the binational environmental laboratory of this agency that administers the border river.
"The process for the construction of the binational laboratory continues", Texeira said in a conversation with the Uruguayan Secretariat of Institutional Communication. He explained that the professional studio that won the binational public competition for architectural preliminary projects has a deadline of 120 days to prepare the project.
The initiative originated from the agreement between Presidents Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay and Mauricio Macri of Argentina in January 2016 to have a laboratory of this type at the head of the Libertador General San Martín bridge, which connects the capital of the department of Río Negro with the Argentine port of Unzué, near Gualeguaychú.
The objective of the project is "to have a laboratory of excellence and high technology, for consultation (in South America), with analytical capacity to establish basic and complex parameters of the aquatic system that, in turn, allow determining the environmental quality of the ecosystems, sediments and biota (set of flora and fauna of a given place), to have measures of prevention, conservation and improvement of the river itself", Texeira said.
Since 2012, CARU has been carrying out permanent quality controls on the waters of the Uruguay River at the cellulose manufacturing plant belonging to the Finnish company UPM, on samples taken at the mouth of the Gualeguaychú River, in Argentina, and in the area of influence of both rivers.
In addition, in 2017, comprehensive monitoring of the 500-kilometer stretch shared with the neighboring country began, and monitoring of specific discharges from cities and industries in the Uruguay River area is beginning, Texeira described.
He added that Uruguayan and Argentine technicians who currently work in precarious laboratories will benefit from the new facilities. He asserted that the project is profitable, because the costs of analyzing and sending water samples from the river to Canada require 700.000 dollars per year, a figure that could be reduced by more than 50%.
Aduana News is the first Argentine customs newspaper to launch its digital version. With 20 years of experience, its publications and initiatives aim to provide the most relevant knowledge on customs issues in order to contribute to safe trade in the region.
