The National Administration of Public Education (ANEP) and the Institute for Children and Adolescents of Uruguay (INAU) signed the third public-private partnership contract with the Educational Infrastructure Consortium. The investment represents an estimated value of 42 million dollars to build and maintain 15 primary education centers and 27 child and family care centers (CAIF) throughout the territory.
The signing took place this Thursday, September 1, in the Executive Tower, with the presence of the Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado; the deputy director of the Planning and Budget Office (OPP), Benjamín Irazabal; the Minister of Social Development, Martín Lema, and the Minister of Education and Culture, Pablo da Silveira. The Director of Education, Gonzalo Baroni; the president of ANEP, Robert Silva; the head of INAU, Pablo Abdala, and, as representative of the Educational Infrastructure Consortium, José Sánchez-Cano.
The project is promoted jointly by the ANEP and the INAU, and the successful bidder is made up of the companies BTD Capital 12, Tecnove, Conami and Basirey. The contracts, under the DBFO (design, construction, financing and maintenance) modality, will be valid for a period of 22 years, with a maximum of 3 for construction. During this period, payments will be made, subject to compliance with the service and quality indicators defined in the tender.
The commitment with ANEP provides for the construction and maintenance of 15 primary schools for 2,850 students in the departments of Canelones, Cerro Largo, Montevideo, Paysandú, Tacuarembó and Soriano. The agreement with INAU will allow the construction and maintenance of 27 CAIFs for 2,916 children in Canelones, Colonia, Maldonado, Montevideo, Paysandú, Río Negro, Salto, San José and Tacuarembo.
The obligations of the contractors will include the initial provision of the equipment of all the institutes and, for ANEP, also the maintenance and replacement, as well as the infrastructure, the exterior areas and the replacement of the elements that are destroyed, except in the case of vandalism. during operating hours. In these centers, a daily routine of cleaning and removal of solid waste will be specified.
Álvaro Delgado explained that this process began in 2018 and that the Government, in addition to generating other instruments to finance road and educational works, accelerated the projects for which there was a commitment.
He added that, for early childhood, the Executive assumed, even in the most difficult moments, to invest 50 million dollars annually and, by the end of this cycle, reach one of the largest expenditures in social policy in the history of Uruguay.
Benjamin Irazabal, in the same vein, said that the aforementioned amount will be allocated to items that represent “the north of this Government”, such as education, and, in particular, care for early childhood and the most vulnerable in society.
Pablo Abdala highlighted that this initiative is part of an expansion plan, to which 25 institutes and expansions in CAIF are added. He reported that in 2022 the 4,000 additional quotas have already been exceeded. At the end of the current government period, the coverage of these services will be increased by 17,000.
For his part, Robert Silva pointed out that under this modality 15 educational centers will be built throughout the country, divided into 12 primary schools and 3 preschools. He highlighted the attention in the east of Canelones, areas such as Neptunia, Colonia Nicolich, Parque del Plata Norte and Pinepark, where there is a very important demand, with classes of more than 30 students.
He also mentioned the importance of maintaining the current infrastructure, which implies 2,800 centers throughout the territory.
