A review of lease contracts covering approximately 190,000 hectares of IPS land in the Teniente Ochoa area of the Paraguayan Chaco has revealed management marked by minimal prices, long terms, and highly favorable conditions for lessees. In some cases, the amounts paid per hectare are less than G. 700 per month.
The cheapest contract identified belongs to Agropecuaria MR5 SA, which operates around 30,558 hectares paying only G. 627 per hectare per month. Signed in 2017, the agreement runs until 2037 and provides for a declared investment of G. 33.6 billion. The total monthly fee is G. 19.1 million.
Another emblematic case is that of La Peregrina Agroganadera SA, which pays approximately G. 675 per hectare on 5,271 hectares. Its contract, signed in 2013, will remain active until 2033, with an investment of G. 5 billion and a monthly fee of just G. 3.5 million.
In the intermediate range appear companies such as Ganadera Algarrobo SA, which pays about G. 1,527 per hectare, and RS Agroganadera SA, at G. 1,642 per hectare. Alessandro Massagrande appears with two separate contracts: one from 2008, with values close to G. 1,534 per hectare on over 30,000 hectares, and another from 2021, already at a higher cost of G. 4,869 per hectare.
The most recent agreements show higher fees, but still far from market values. Importcam SRL obtained a 20-year contract in 2023 paying about G. 4,195 per hectare, while TAPITI SRL, awarded in 2024, will pay approximately G. 6,222 per hectare. Both contracts, however, included 24-month grace periods before the effective start of payments.
Economist and analyst Víctor Raúl Benítez described the situation as "nonsense" and warned that IPS seems unaware of the real value of its real estate assets. "We can say that IPS does not know the value of what it has and does not generate the potential profitability from its properties," he stated.
Benítez also mentioned the existence of unconfirmed reports that the institution may own around 400,000 hectares in the Chaco, many of them ceded at no cost in exchange for improvements that are difficult to verify. "It is very likely that there is a club of friends, cronies of the power that administered IPS," he declared, suggesting that the awards were negotiated on a discretionary basis.
The practice of granting long grace periods is not limited to rural lands. The contract for the Paseo Los Árboles complex, awarded to Karim Gulamabbas Ravji Damani, provides for an eight-year grace period and an additional 24 months paying only 50% of the G. 84 million monthly fee, without any investment certification for the G. 69.3 billion committed. The Hotel Guaraní, under the management of La Gloria Hotelería SA, also received a 12-month grace period and has no certified investments on record.