Alcanzar el desarrollo. La planificación de obras en Argentina (1958-1977)

Abstract

Between the mid-1950s and the 1970s in Argentina, planning was institutionalized as a State discipline while it was oriented towards the progress of industry. In this sense, developmentalism as a theoretical model that, in those years, generally guided public policies amalgamated, not without certain nuances in each period of government, planning and industrialization, promoting energy self-sufficiency and summoning foreign capital. Through the development plans, the will and interests of the State were brought together and architectural and infrastructure works were proposed for the three sectors of the economy thatwere fundamental and synergistic to the industrialization process: industry, energy and transportation.
This article aims to inquire how the selected economic sectors manifested themselves in works proposals, which lines of action predominated and which construction programs were protagonists of developmentalism public policies. For this, the literature that addressed economic planning in those years was reviewed and the proposals for works for industry, energy and transport were registered (manufacturing plants, hydroelectric plants, bridges and bus terminals were listed, among other construction programs) in the plans prepared by CONADE and INPE, as well as the speeches of President Frondizi that allowed covering the time frame of the study period.
The procedure made it possible to establish how the developmental model was conceived in terms of public works, linked to themes that resonate in contemporary national resource planning. While in the first half of the period the majority of the proposals were allocated to the energy sector, in the second, industry and transportation took precedence, and within the latter the decline of railway and maritime infrastructure is verified. In addition, there are works such as the expansion of the SOMISA plant and the execution of the "Chocón-Cerros Colorados" hydroelectric complex that remained permanent in the interests of the stakeholders. However, the relative coincidence in the objectives was not enough to give continuity and finally implement the plans and policies studied.