CAF to Fund Rimac River Recovery

(Lima, January 18, 2022) The Rimac River, residents in surrounding areas and the general public walking through the Historic Center, will benefit from this good news presented in the framework of the 487th anniversary of foundation of Lima, i.e. the signing of a Non-Reimbursable Technical Cooperation by CAF—development bank of Latin America—and the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima for up to USD 600,000, with the purpose of providing support for the development of the pre-investment study for the Special Project for the Recovery of the Rimac River.    

The agreement signed in a formal ceremony held at Plaza Santa Rosa by the Mayor of Lima, Jorge Muñoz, and CAF executive president Sergio Díaz-Granados, aims to define the roadmap to ensure a better quality of life for the population around the Rimac River, in particular Cercado de Lima and other districts in the area of influence, generating also an accessible and sustainable public space, where residents feel more integrated into the city. The flagship project serves as an example of recovery and enhancement of the historical and urban importance of the metropolis of Lima and its close relationship with the Rimac River.

“The importance of signing this agreement lies in the large number of benefits the Rimac River Special Landscape Project will bring to our city. It will have a +170-hectare area of influence across the districts of Cercado, Rímac, San Martín de Porres, San Juan de Lurigancho and El Agustino. It also calls for the creation of green areas, which will turn the Rimac River into the new great park and lung of Lima,” said Mayor Jorge Muñoz during the ceremony.

CAF executive president Sergio Díaz-Granados said: “We are committed to recovering the importance of the Rimac River as a water, historical, environmental and landscape resource of Lima, as part of our strategy to promote environmental sustainability and the development of cities. With this pre-investment study, we began to materialize the Biodivercities Initiative launched last December in Barranquilla with the presence of Mayor Jorge Muñoz, led by the mayors of seven Latin American cities, to promote integration, preservation and protection of biodiversity in Latin America and Caribbean cities”.

The Special Landscape Project of the Rimac River is part of the Master Plan for the Recovery of the Historic Center of Lima, approved by Ordinance 2194 of December 2019, as a legacy project for the Bicentennial of the Independence of Peru, ahead of the five hundredth anniversary of the founding of Lima. The main objective of this project is the recovery of the riverbed and banks and the integration of its banks with the Historic Center of Lima, with the necessary interventions to establish an optimal connection between the urban fabric and the water landscape.

The pre-investment study will have a total cost of USD 1,597,050, of which CAF will disburse USD 600,000. This project is under development at the conceptual level, expected to be executed in three areas of intervention for which CAF’s support was requested. The first zone of intervention will tackle the area between the Ejército bridge (continuation of Alfonso Ugarte Ave.) and Santa Rosa bridge (continuation of Tacna Ave.), covering the neighborhoods of Monserrate and Daniel Alcides Carrión south of the riverbank, as well as the Huascarán to the north side.

The second intervention zone will include the area between Santa Rosa bridge (continuation of Tacna) and the Balta bridge (continuation of Jr. Andahuaylas), covering the public recreation spaces Alameda Chabuca Granda and Parque de la Muralla, as well as the Evitamiento road and adjoining streets in a southbound to north direction of the Rimac district, and including the Estancos de Sal area located within the area declared world heritage by UNESCO.

The third zone of intervention will include the area between the Balta bridge (continuation of Jr. Andahuaylas) to the boundary of the historical center of Lima, covering the Huánuco bridge, the Cantagallo area, the public space of the residential areas of Martinete, the Amazonas Shopping Center and the area occupied by the old wall of Lima.