In March, Argentina’s government will open bids to start the engineering and construction of a multi-billion dollar natural gas pipeline spanning six northern provinces. The bids will cover building segments of the project in the provinces of Salta, Formosa and Santa Fe as well as bids for a separate contract to provide the related control and communications systems. Bids for contracts to do the basic engineering and environmental impact surveys, for which it has budgeted USD 1.7 million and USD 600,000 respectively, will also be opened then. Bidding rules for the four contracts can be purchased at the offices of state-run energy company Enarsa. The government has said the approximately 4100 km pipeline will cost USD 6 billion and will eventually deliver natural gas to 3.4 million people in 165 communities. Completion of the first phase of the pipeline is expected in June, 2012.