Road Infrastructure Improvement will favor Paraguay's Competitiveness

(Asuncion, April 10^th, 2014). CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, will finance the execution of road infrastructure works for a total of USD 272 million through projects in highway tranches of the national and departmental road networks, located in three departments bordering with Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil.

The subscription of the loan contracts was carried out in Asuncion, to partially finance the Improvement Program for Integration Corridors and Road Reconstruction, for USD 222 million; and the Improvement Project for Neighborhood Roads and Bridges in Rural Areas  through the intensive use of local labor in the Eastern Region, for USD 50 million.

The contract was signed by the Minister of Finance of Paraguay, German Hugo Rojas; and CAF's Director Representative in the country, Fernando Infante.

Fernando Infante stated that, "investment in infrastructure is one of the key factors for the region's development and integration. Therefore, one of the priorities of the comprehensive development model that CAF promotes for Paraguay and for Latin America".

The Improvement Program for Integration Corridors and Road Reconstruction seeks to facilitate the transportation of goods in departmental, regional, and international corridors, with the purpose of contributing with productive integration and favoring competitiveness between the regions and neighboring countries. The program will be executed in a term of four years by the Ministry of Public Works and Telecommunications of Paraguay.

The initiative also includes a project in the Eastern Region for the improvement of road infrastructure in rural areas, and the diversification of income sources for families in a situation of extreme poverty, through the construction of social infrastructure which will enable the generation of the bases for a greater productivity, and promote socio-economic development through training in trades opportunities related with construction.