Page Seven / La Paz
The cost of the operation and maintenance service of the Ammonia and Urea Plant (PAU) reaches 44.3 million dollars and the maximum salary paid to foreign technicians who are in the factory is 250 thousand Bolivians, reported yesterday the Hydrocarbons Minister, Franklin Molina.
According to the authority, this amount is less than 50% of the 88.8 million dollars that the Korean company Samsung charged, when the PAU began to operate, since this work is now in charge of YPFB Refining.
“In 2017, when the plant began operations, Samsung for this type of operation and maintenance services that it provided to YPFB had a cost of 88.8 million dollars. YPFB Refining charges 44.3 million dollars for this service, we have practically reduced it by half”, he reported.
This was achieved, he said, with the development of a strategy to optimize resources, budget and training of Bolivian professionals.
He added that since it is a petrochemical plant, highly qualified personnel are required because the handling of products and operations is risky, since there is movement of ammonia and nitrogen.
He pointed out that YPFB Refining is the one that currently provides operation and maintenance services and this requires highly qualified “foreign professionals” and ruled out that the salaries are excessive, since they are related to the standard of any oil operator.
“Reference is made to a professional of (Indian) origin who earns about 250 thousand Bolivians and makes a scandal. This is part of a subcontract and I must mention that this is normal in the oil industry”, he specified.
The authority showed the payroll of an oil company in the country, in which the manager receives 369,000 bolivianos and another company with 244,000 bolivianos. “Then I do not understand the motivation behind these comments from some analysts and the media, it is said that there are foreign personnel who are earning more than the president of the World Bank and it is about inferring that salaries are being paid above what corresponds . Before the nationalization, the privatized companies paid salaries of 60,000 dollars,” he specified.
Yesterday, Page Seven published a note in this regard in which sector analyst Hugo Del Granado observes the salary of the PAU plant manager as irrational and scandalous. The expert’s analysis is based on the YPFBR-DAL/SAL-9-CE/2021 report issued by YPFB Refinación, published by Los Tiempos. Although his analysis focuses on an additional table, also published by the Cochabamba morning paper, in which the salary is as if it were Bs 500 thousand.
The minister said yesterday: “I understand that there are 250,000 Bolivians, it is a service that the (professional) provides to YPFB Refining and obviously the levels of a manager of an oil company is more than 300,000 Bolivians,” he stressed.
In addition, he mentioned that the professional who works at the plant with this salary has more than 30 years of experience. “If someone, the opposition can bring us a professional of these characteristics, surely the company that subcontracts will grab him,” he said.
Molina reported that in 2017 only 34 Bolivian professionals worked at the plant and 76 were Korean and two from India. “That relationship has changed today, of the 400 workers, 60% are Bolivian. There is a plan so that the entire plant has Bolivian professionals in the following years”, he remarked.
Legislators will request payroll report
- Reaction MAS deputy Héctor Arce reported that he will request a request for a written report (PIE) on the salary scale of plant personnel, consultants and specialized professionals who work at the Ammonia and Urea Plant in Cochabamba, but also on the salaries that are paid in all state companies in the country. However, he clarified that the preliminary information he received is that salaries are not high at the plant and that specialized technicians were hired for its operation.
- Request The deputy of the Citizen Community Miguel Roca indicated that a report will be requested on salaries and how they proceeded to hire professionals at the plant.
- Review The governor of Santa Cruz, Luis Fernando Camacho, questioned the salaries paid at the urea plant and described them as an affront to the people.
- Operation The Ammonia and Urea Plant was reactivated last year after damage to the equipment.
