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up to date · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
The norm, in detail

Where the money for Belgrano Cargas works comes from

Decreto 718/2026
in forceNATIONAL RIGI and investment

The proceeds of the rolling-stock auction go into a single-purpose trust: it can only finance and pay for the works the concessionaires are responsible for. What the act says and what it does not.

What changed and who it applies to

What changed
It replaces sections 1 and 2 of Decreto 282/2026 and with that changes which pocket pays for the rail works. Until this decree, the money from selling the rolling stock went into the trust of Decreto 976/01 — the one that receives the Gasoil Levy and road levies, and shares out among many beneficiaries. From now on, the proceeds of the public auction of rolling stock and of the rolling stock sold within the concession contracts "shall be assigned to a trust designated for that purpose by the MINISTERIO DE ECONOMÍA, with the sole destination of financing and paying for the works the concessionaires are responsible for" (section 1, verbatim). The reason is written into the recitals and does not have to be inferred: a trust "of multiple purpose, in which a plurality of funding sources and beneficiaries converge" was constraining "the speed of disbursements". ⭐ The second actionable fact is in section 2, subsection b: the sale price of the rolling stock included in the concessions is set "taking as a minimum reference value the appraisal of the market value of the rolling stock carried out by the TRIBUNAL DE TASACIONES DE LA NACIÓN". In other words: there is a price floor set by a State body, and no ceiling. In force from publication (section 3). verif Aug 10, 2026
In force
In force from its publication in the Boletín Oficial, 10 August 2026 (section 3). ⚠️ What the decree enables has not happened yet: it instructs the Ministerio de Economía to assign the resources, sign the trust agreement and issue its operating rules, and sets no deadline. The milestone with a firm date is still the parent tender's: bids open on 11 November 2026. verif Aug 10, 2026
Are you in or out?
To whoever is going to invoice the concessionaire for works on the track: track renewal and signalling firms, civil and structural works, earthmoving, and suppliers of rail, sleepers and ballast. For that supplier the decree answers the question a tender document does not — which pot the money that pays me comes out of — and the answer changes: it stops being a trust shared with road works and becomes one whose only permitted destination is financing and paying for these works. It also reaches anyone weighing a bid for the concession, because the same act sets that whatever rolling stock is included in its contract will be valued with a floor set by the Tribunal de Tasaciones de la Nación: an entry cost with a known floor and no written ceiling. verif Aug 10, 2026
The norm
Decreto 718/2026 of the National Executive (DECTO-2026-718-APN-PTE), signed in the City of Buenos Aires on 8 August 2026 and published in the Boletín Oficial on 10 August 2026 (notice 345701, No. 55667/26). File EX-2026-75858402-APN-DGDA#MEC. Signed by MILEI and Luis Andrés Caputo. Operative part of four sections. Issued under the powers of section 99(1) of the National Constitution and sections 7 and 10 of Ley 27.742. verif Aug 8, 2026

Our reading

thesis There is a consequence neither norm writes down and that comes from reading them together: the budget for northern rail works is capped by whatever the rolling stock fetches. The decree ties a single source — the auction and sale of locomotives and wagons — to a single destination — paying for the concessionaire's works — and adds nothing else to it. ⇒ For the supplier that means two opposite things and both matter: collection risk improves, because the money does not compete with other beneficiaries inside a multi-purpose trust; and the size of the market does not yet exist as a number, because it depends on an auction that has not happened. The date that number appears is not 11 November — that is when bids open — but the date of the rolling-stock auction and of the Tribunal de Tasaciones appraisal, which is the only floor written down so far. ⚠️ What could break this reading: the Ministerio de Economía endowing the trust with resources beyond the rolling stock when it issues its operating rules — section 2 empowers it to "assign the resources provided for herein", and there the ceiling moves. thesis
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Where it lands, province by province

Applies the same nationwide

No effect lands differently in any one province: it applies the same across the country.

The other rules on this subject31

Ley Bases: the RIGI is bornLey 27.742 · Decreto 749/2024in force
RIGI: more time and more sectorsDecreto 105/2026in force
Super RIGI: data centers, AI and semiconductorsFirst-round approval in the Chamber of Deputies (Jun-2026), in the Senatepending
CPTPP: Argentina asks to join the Trans-Pacific blocLetter of intent (06-03-2026)pending
How to read the seals →   verif primary source · prob primary source pending · unconf a source said it · estim our own calculation · thesis our reading · the date belongs to the datum, at the precision its source allows
Ignacio Aredez
Ignacio Aredez· Chief analyst
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