Argentina’s government has ordered the dissolution of the National Highway Administration (Dirección Nacional de Vialidad), the National Road Safety Agency and other transport bodies, shifting their responsibilities to the Ministry of Economy and the federal police force Gendarmería. The changes were formalised in Decree 461/2025, published early Tuesday, and include plans to concession 9,120 kilometres of national roads to private operators. Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said the overhaul aims to cut costs and curb what the administration called endemic corruption in public works, citing the high-profile “Vialidad” fraud case as justification. A new Agency for Control of Public Transport Concessions and Services, built on the remnants of the former transport regulator CNRT, will supervise the upcoming road contracts, while Gendarmería will assume traffic-enforcement duties that had been handled by the abolished safety agency. The decree was issued hours before the special powers granted to President Javier Milei under last year’s Bases Law were due to lapse, underscoring the government’s urgency to shrink the state and expand private participation in infrastructure. Officials argue that outsourcing maintenance will deliver “significant savings” compared with the current model, which oversees more than 40,000 kilometres of national highways. Provincial leaders and labour groups condemned the move. La Pampa governor Sergio Ziliotto called the shutdown “irrational” and a blow to regional development, while the public-sector union ATE warned that more than 5,000 employees face uncertainty. Road-workers’ union STVyARA said transferring upkeep to concessionaires risks further deterioration of already damaged routes and endangers motorists. The government has not released a timetable for the bidding process or the value of the planned concessions. Investors and transport analysts will watch whether the private sector can step in quickly enough to maintain service levels on critical freight and tourism corridors while meeting the administration’s cost-saving targets.