A new private project is planned for the Mauá Dam that would include a port, an urban promenade and a passenger terminal for the Montevideo – Buenos Aires connection and for tourist cruises, in this place in the Bay of Montevideo that has previously been viewed with desire by private investors.
The new project for the disused dam is already on the desks of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works (MTOP) and the Municipality of Montevideo (IMM), and there would be favorable positions both in the departmental commune and in the national government so that this happen, according to information from Underlined.
The work is in a phase of processing permits before the different instances, and then it will go to a public tender as appropriate, so that other bidders can openly present themselves.
For the government of Luis Lacalle Pou, it is necessary to withdraw from the Port of Montevideo the operation of passenger ships -which Buquebus currently has- and cruise ships that come from all over the world. Safety regulations indicate that it is not recommended that people in transit coexist with the transport of goods and container logistics.
The idea for the new port in the Mauá Dam was presented by the Berkes construction company, which is currently involved in the construction of the Central Railroad and the new pulp mill, as well as others in the country and abroad.
If carried out, the new terminal would work in association with Corporación América, which has the concession for all the airports in Uruguay, including Carrasco.
repeated idea
In 2018 it had finished collapsing another similar project in the same place. The project of the Executive Power of Tabaré Vázquez for the construction of a fluvial passenger terminal in the Citadel was approved by the Senate at the end of 2017, and was being studied by the House of Representatives. But in the end he did not finish advancing and ended up buried, as sentenced the Minister of Transport at the time, Víctor Rossi.
Already entered the current government, in 2020 there were announcements of the MTOP of intentions to advance in a similar idea. Luis Alberto Heber, then minister of the portfolio, had said that he would send a project to Parliament arguing that “the cargo port cannot have the passengers of Buquebus or cruise ships.”
