Category Archives:
Uncategorized Archives - Bitafal

In a few more days, the most important online event in the road industry in Latin America will take place. The InterCILA is the virtual version of the Ibero-Latin American Asphalt Congress, which is held every two years, in the period between two in-person editions of the CILA.

On this occasion it will be held from Mexico and will feature the participation of very prominent technicians from all of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as experts from Spain, the United States and the hosts from Mexico. In two intense days, we will be able to attend conferences on Pavement Recycling, RAP, Asphalt Mixtures and Binders, Artificial Intelligence applications, Innovation and Sustainability.

The call is open and free, which constitutes a unique opportunity to attend a top-level event and learn about the state of the art of the industry, presented by its protagonists. The program includes conferences, presentation of success stories and discussions that will undoubtedly bring us closer to the latest developments in the world of road construction.

InterCILA will be the bridge that connects the last edition of CILA, held in Paraguay in 2025, with the next edition that will be in 2027 in Panama. From BITAFAL we invite all construction companies, members of the National Highway Directorate of the MTOP, academics and students from the FIUM and FING engineering faculties to register for this link and participate in an event that will undoubtedly allow us to learn and compare our reality with the situation of very diverse countries and markets.

“Being happy is also a decision we must make.” Under this promising slogan, the BITAFAL team held its annual Open Session at the IEEM Business School of the University of Montevideo. The training was led by teacher Patricia Otero, who delved into the importance of achieving happiness in different areas of people's lives, including the family, the personal and especially at work.

We had the pleasant opportunity to share with some client friends and a large number of members of our team to reflect on the importance of happiness as a driver of personal and organizational growth. Formerly considered a soft skill, today happiness is valued as a fundamental element for the success of people within companies, generating more humane, sustainable and productive organizational environments.

Otero directs the UM Center for Happiness Studies, a space where research is carried out on the influence of that emotion on performance within companies. “If what you do brings you happiness, you will surely do it better,” said the teacher, referring to different scientific studies on the matter, which demonstrate the relationship between well-being in relation to the task and the result achieved.

This workshop is part of the permanent training plan that BITAFAL carries out in all its areas and for all its members. For the team that leads the management of the company, it represented a very important event, which was evident in the very positive assessment expressed by all who attended it.

BITAFAL's Transportation Division recently received two new tankers intended for the transportation of asphalt emulsions. They arrived from Brazil and have a loading capacity of 29,000 liters each.

Built in carbon steel, the new tanks are divided into 3 independent warehouses, which allows us to deliver up to 3 different products in a single office. This facilitates the task of applying and collecting emulsions for our clients, resulting in greater efficiency in their construction processes.

With this incorporation, BITAFAL continues to expand its fleet specialized in transporting asphalt emulsions and continues to improve processes and optimization in each delivery for the benefit of our customers and minimizing the impact on the environment.

Along with the new cisterns, the Transportation Division continued with the renovation of its infrastructure, incorporating a new control and security system through cameras, exterior signage and internal signage. Added to this was the remodeling of offices, dining rooms and work spaces, all elements that result in greater comfort and safety for the team that carries out the important task of delivering our products.

Within the framework of its annual program of academic activities, the BITAFAL – UM Sustainable Asphalt Chair organized the workshop “Pavement Rehabilitation Design for Maintenance Contracts”. It was aimed at learning first-hand about the state of the Uruguayan road network and the maintenance needs it presents.

The presentation was given by MTOP technicians Adrián Moreira and Pablo Hermida, who provided very valuable information about the reality of our roads, the criteria for evaluating their condition, structural parameters of the surfaces, functional parameters and wear according to the volume of traffic they receive. The specialists explained in depth the methodology for surveying and auscultating the pavements, using special equipment acquired for that purpose.

In that sense, they distinguished between the state of conservation of the Uruguayan road network, which in general terms is very good. Likewise, they highlighted that the MTOP is implementing a road asset management system called Ícaro, where all the information generated in the surveys carried out is processed.

Subsequently, MTOP representatives presented the design and rehabilitation methodologies determined by the portfolio for road maintenance contracts, especially those called AASHTO 93 and EVO, an empirical mechanistic analysis system. In this sense, the experts carried out a detailed analysis of the evaluation criteria used in the last 25 years and the trends that will be applied in future contracts.

The activity was presented by the director of the CAS, Eng. David Fontans, and was attended by more than 40 students from the FIUM and the FING, technicians from the MTOP, representatives of the Municipalities of Canelones and Montevideo, as well as technicians from abroad who participated in person and virtually in the day of high technical content. The BITAFAL team was led by our General Director Santiago Kröger, the commercial manager Victoria García and the technical/commercial advisor Ezequiel González, completing a day of high academic level on one of the most important aspects of road construction.

Days ago, the Ministry of Transportation and Public Works signed the first MAS-CREMAF contract for the rehabilitation of more than 200 km of routes in various departments of the country. A true milestone in road construction in Uruguay, since for the first time these contracts include incentives for meeting goals in the area of ​​sustainability.

The sections included in the contract involve routes 8, 17, 18 and 26, in the departments of Lavalleja, Treinta y Tres and Cerro Largo, for a period of 7 years. The agreement was signed by the Corporación Vial del Uruguay (CVU), MTOP concessionaire, and the company Serviam. BITAFAL will be providing support with its sustainable products and expertise to the recovery of the intervened sections.

The Sustainable Asset Maintenance contract model constitutes an evolution of the CREMAF contracts and combines the rehabilitation of existing sections with their long-term maintenance and the incorporation of specific sustainability criteria. To this end, they determine bonds related to emissions reduction, recycling and reuse of materials, asphalt materials and mixtures, environmental management and biodiversity, road safety and social impact.

The objective is to guarantee the conservation of the road heritage during the seven years of the contract, anticipating the necessary interventions to ensure service levels and preserve the routes in the long term.

At BITAFAL we are very pleased to contribute, from our place, to the promotion of sustainability in the Uruguayan road ecosystem, with our line of sustainable asphalts and emulsions.

We hope that this first contract will be successful and that it will be the beginning of a series of new projects that continue to put sustainability at the center.

More info HERE

BITAFAL's commitment to sustainable production is increasingly present in all aspects of our management. For this reason, once again we participated in the 5th edition of the “Sustainable Uruguay” Expo of the Ministry of the Environment, held at the Antel Arena from June 11 to 14.

On this occasion, our presence was linked to the presentation of the first autonomous electric station in Latin America that we have been building at our Ruta 8 km 27 plant. A great opportunity to inform authorities, businessmen and the general public about the unique characteristics of the project: 100% renewable energy generated from solar panels and stored in high-capacity batteries as well as the most powerful 500 KW chargers available in the country.

A stand with real-time information allowed visitors to know the volume of energy generated, stored and the charging speed of the different vehicles that were in the electric station.

In addition, our General Director Santiago Kröger participated in the panel “Promoting circularity in construction” organized by the Chamber of Construction, presenting to the authorities of the Ministry of the Environment, construction companies and professionals, about the experiences of reusing and recycling waste from different industries in the production of sustainable asphalt, which has already made us a reference on the subject in Uruguay and the region.

A very fruitful exchange with all the actors involved in the road work, which made it possible to verify that there is a long way to go in terms of circularity and that BITAFAL can be a great ally of all companies that need to provide a correct final disposal of their waste, reducing costs and taking care of the environment.

Congratulations to the entire team that made our presence at the Antel Arena possible, for the third consecutive year, presenting our actions in the field of sustainability to the entire society.

Within the framework of its calendar of activities, the Uruguayan Road Association organized, between May 27 and 29, 2026 at the CAF Auditorium, an international meeting together with the World Road Association (PIARC) aimed at professional updating and trends in the industry at a global level. BITAFAL was present through its technical/commercial team, actively participating in the conferences with excellent technical and academic content.

On this occasion, the conference was dedicated to “Intelligent Road Asset Management: Innovation and Technology at the Service of Infrastructure”, addressing topics of great importance for the present and future of the industry. Issues such as digital transformation and AI, sustainable management and its importance in new contracts, new IT tools endorsed by PIARC, were analyzed in depth by a panel of top-level professionals, providing a vision of the challenges that road construction already faces at a global level.

As a fundamental conclusion, the congress made it clear that managing a road today means managing information throughout its life cycle. Moving from a culture of “emergency repair” to one of “preventive and intelligent maintenance” reduces costs for the State, improves user safety and contributes directly to the sustainable development of the country.

Predictive models, the choice and use of appropriate computer tools, today allow the management of roads and bridges, anticipating the problems generated by their use and generating the most economical and least harmful solutions for their normal operation. A special chapter dealt with the management of sustainability in road construction and its inclusion in contracts, the possibilities of accessing bonds or financing conditional on the fulfillment of environmental goals, a topic that BITAFAL has been part of its verticals for years.

The International Conference of the Uruguayan Road Association was a new demonstration that the joint work of companies, academia and authorities is essential for the country to move towards road development at the level of the most developed systems in the world.

Every June, when our anniversary arrives, we feel that it is a good time to look at ourselves in perspective, the path we have traveled, our present and the challenges that lie ahead. Therefore, with great satisfaction, today BITAFAL is consolidated as the leading company in the production of sustainable asphalt and asphalt emulsions in the country, with broad market recognition for its innovative and sustainable nature.

Thanks to the work of a great professional team, in the last year we installed our new governance structure, strengthened our team of collaborators and prepared our infrastructure to continue advancing in the development of new solutions for an increasingly demanding industry.

Among the milestones to highlight in this new anniversary, we mention the reconversion of the energy matrix of our plants, which already has a biomass boiler in operation, another in the process of installation and more than 10,000 m2 of solar panels.

This new infrastructure not only gives us energy independence, but also allows us to carry out one of the most challenging projects in our history: the creation of an autonomous electric station to supply the cargo and passenger transportation system of the Pando – Montevideo axis. Very soon we will be inaugurating this new service unit, which will be the first in the country in this format and will be equipped with the highest power chargers available on the Uruguayan market.

But our concern and effort is also to improve the quality of life of our human team. Safety in our operations occupies a central position in our growth project, and we will continue to redouble our actions so that all of us who work in the company do so with the protection and security that we deserve.

For this, and many more projects that we have been carrying out, we salute all those who have accompanied us in these 42 years, to continue saying with pride: BITAFAL, we transform roads, we develop the future.

For the third consecutive year, the BITAFAL – UM Sustainable Asphalt Chair held its workshop on Asphalt Emulsions. The event, held in the halls of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Montevideo, had the in-person participation of more than 50 students, professionals from construction companies, representatives of the Ministry of Transportation and the municipalities of Salto, Canelones and Montevideo, who were joined by another group of attendees through streaming in the interior of the country.

The master class was led by our General Director Santiago Kröger, who gave a presentation on emulsions in general, their characterization, application conditions, comparison with the use of diluted ones and the advantages they represent in environmental aspects and safety for work teams and road users.

The BITAFAL team was very present during the day, through Antonella Lasso, who was in charge of preparing the material samples from our CITEVI laboratory for the demonstration of the different emulsions, and Ezequiel González from our technical-commercial department, who presented the success stories that the application of these products already has on national routes.

After the theoretical presentation, a practical activity was developed, where all participants were able to test the different materials and their properties, checking their behavior in the laboratory and projecting their use in future road construction.

The meeting culminated with a lunch of camaraderie, which served to reaffirm the excellent relationship within the road community, which increasingly includes construction companies, national and departmental authorities, and academia. For students, this edition had a special value, since for the first time it counted as credits for their educational curriculum.

At BITAFAL we are proud to promote this chair together with the UM, which in its first two years has already produced more than 10 academic works, which in many cases have meant degree work for new engineers, and which in all cases have contributed to the growth of the country's road industry.

It is with great joy that we present our 2025 Sustainability Report. A document that transversally analyzes our organization in the social, environmental and economic dimensions, which reaffirms us on the path of sustainability that we choose as an organization.

This report allows us to have a deep and systemic look at how we have been working on sustainability. As it is the second edition, it also marks continuity with the work carried out last year, with which we begin to measure our own evolution.

Before a large gathering of collaborators and special guests, our head of quality, SST and sustainability Ana Laura Hernández and our general director Santiago Kröger presented the evolution of the main indicators analyzed in the document: carbon footprint, water footprint, the transformation of the energy matrix of the plants and the evolution of the Occupational Safety programs.

In all the areas analyzed, progress was noted, which is only possible thanks to the participation and commitment of the entire BITAFAL team, which has taken on board the challenges that we have been setting for ourselves.

Learn about some of the achievements of the year 2025 below:

Some of the most important achievements of 2025 reflected in this Report are summarized below:

• Carbon Footprint Reduction (Scopes 1 and 2): We achieved a 3.2% reduction in the Carbon Footprint corresponding to Scopes 1 and 2, making progress in reducing direct emissions and those associated with energy consumption.
• Reduction of the Water Footprint: We greatly exceeded the objective established for 2025 of a 5% reduction in the organizational Water Footprint per ton, reaching 14%.
• Sustainability Control Board (TACO–BI): We incorporated the BI tool into our dashboard, which allows us to monitor waste, energy consumption, environmental footprints, social impact and contribution to the SDGs on a monthly basis, facilitating data-based management.
• Advances in energy efficiency and resource use: We followed up on the fuel oil savings plan, where we reduced spending per ton by 13% and optimized the consumption of critical resources, generating improvements in operational efficiency and reduction of environmental impacts.
• Responsible waste management: We implemented specific training and internal audits that allowed us to strengthen circular economy practices.
• Sustainable road solutions on site: We accompanied the application of more than 3,000 tons of warm mixtures on sections of Route 9 and Route 45, using sustainable asphalt from the new MAX product line.
• Transport fleet with lower environmental impact: We made progress in renewing the fleet, incorporating units with lower environmental impact, we incorporated use controls in all units and incorporated a new additive to improve combustion efficiency that allowed us to reduce fleet emissions by 8%.
• Zero Accident Program: We implemented the Zero Accident Program, reinforcing a preventive culture and a systematic approach to safety and health at work, reaching a total of 244 notices in 2025, of which 47% have been managed and closed at the end of the year.
• Social Impact Program: We structure a specific program to strengthen the bond with the community and organize the company's social impact actions.
• Strengthened internal communication: We incorporated the HUMAND platform as a central internal communication channel, improving the organization of information, accessibility to content and exchange between teams.

The exercise of producing the Sustainability Report also allows us to observe the work we do in consolidating our values, our cardinals and the role we play within the industry. In this sense, we reaffirm our support for the professionalization of road construction, the socialization of knowledge and, with it, the growth of the entire sector.

In addition to the formal presentations, the event had a very entertaining dynamic with recreational activities, to graph and highlight each of the elements analyzed. Thus, several members of the three company headquarters answered questions, checked the weight of some variables and even carried out a bagging race to demonstrate their knowledge of reducing the water footprint.

We appreciate the support and professional dedication of the different teams involved in the production of the report: Urban Elements in the technical consultancy, Ginkgo in the design and especially the leaders of the different sectors of BITAFAL, without whose participation the production of the 2025 Sustainability Report would not have been possible.

Link to the report.