Toll road concessions in Argentina - What can be learned

The toll road concession experience in Argentina during 1990 to 2001 is reviewed. Some guidelines are suggested for the future in terms of thorough bidding qualification procedures, competitive bidding with simple and clear documents, prevention as regards construction firms controlling the concessionaire, agreements designed to reduce renegotiations to a minimum, renegotiations open to international auditing, optimization of risk allocation between the users and the concessionaire, prohibition of contract extension, performance rather than profitability controls, users' control with strong government support, toll collection and investment policy integration over the road network, congestion pricing, and intelligent transportation systems traffic management.