CAF: strong support for Argentina's comprehensive development

Mauricio Macri, President of the Republic of Argentina, participated in the closing ceremony of the CLVII Board Meeting of CAF, Development Bank of Latin America and, together with the multilateral organization's Executive President, Enrique García, ratified the commitment to continue advancing the country's sustainable development comprehensive agenda based on increasing productivity and competitiveness, improving infrastructure, and promoting inclusive growth that has a positive impact on the quality of life of Argentineans. 

CAF's support to Argentina includes financing for up to USD 2 billion for the 2016-2019 period, and will be coordinated through three large central lines of work: 

• Promote the country's international competitive insertion with the purpose of improving productivity and competitiveness, through financing for logistic, transportation, roads, and energy provision works, emphasizing the country's central area. 
• Promote comprehensive development and reduce social vulnerability through financing of potable water and sanitation projects, as well as urban development and education, emphasizing the northern part of the country. 
• Support an ambitious investment plan for infrastructure that contributes to improve urban mobility, redesign cities, and increase road safety in the Metropolitan axis, City and Province of Buenos Aires. 

President Macri thanked Enrique García for the credit institution's inclination toward the country and, especially, for supporting the Plan Belgrano, aimed at providing a historical reparation to ten northern provinces. Before governors, government officials, CAF managers, and representatives of development corporations from several countries of Latin America, President Macri stated, "What has been done is very important, as well as understanding, at this stage of Argentinean politics, that it is not the same to spend and to invest, as what generates a future is investment".   

Enrique García stated, "Our commitment with Argentina has the main objective of improving the wellbeing of all its citizens. For this, we are supporting the Government's efforts by providing technical and financial support to achieve a competitive international insertion, attract financial resources to modernize the infrastructure, and influence the country's productive transformation". 

The closing ceremony of the Board meeting included Chief of Cabinet, Marcos Peña; the ministers of Finance and Public Finances, Alfonso Prat Gay; Energy and Mining, Juan José Aranguren; Transportation, Guillermo Dietrich, and Agro-Industry, Ricardo Buryaile. The meetings included the participation of the governors of Buenos Aires, María Eugenia Vidal; Entre Ríos, Gustavo Bordet; Santa Fe, Miguel Lifschitz; Misiones, Hugo Passalacqua; Chaco, Domingo Peppo; Córdoba, Juan Schiaretti, and Salta, Juan Manuel Urtubey, and the Chief of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.

Projects approved by the Board

During the institution's Board session, held during the morning in the city of Buenos Aires, USD 620 million were approved in favor of the Republic of Argentina, aimed at the following projects: 

Paseo del Bajo Project: Loan for USD 400 million, executed by the Nation's Ministry of Transportation and the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, to finance the construction of a 7.0 kilometer road corridor in the City of Buenos Aires, with the objective of improving urban mobility and efficiently integrating commercial transportation, especially in the area neighboring the city's port and the Retiro Station, with the north and south corridors of the Greater Buenos Aires.   

Project for the Implementation of the Comprehensive Management of the Rio Lujan Basin - Stage 1: Loan for USD 100 million, executed by the Under-Secretariat of Finance of the Ministry of Economy of the Province of Buenos Aires, with the objective of preventing high waters and manage water flows in a controlled manner to moderate the effect of floods in the basin of the Lujan River. This includes ten districts of the Province of Buenos Aires. 

Project for the Construction of a Water Treatment Plant in the Districts of La Plata, Berisso, and Ensenada: Loan for USD 119 million, executed by the Under-Secretariat of Finance of the Ministry of Economy of the Province of Buenos Aires, to build a water treatment plant to address the demand for potable water, and to improve the efficiency of the provision systems in the districts of La Plata, Ensenada,and Berisso, in the Province of Buenos Aires.  

Signature of the loan contract 

Two loan contracts were signed in the framework of the Board's meetings: 

Basic Potable Water Works Program 2012-2015 AySA S.A. - PHASE II: for a total of USD 120 million, with the objective of improving the access, quality, and provision of potable water services in the municipalities that are southeast of the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, within the concession area of AySA S.A.

Canal los Molinos Comprehensive Rehabilitation Project : for a total of USD 49 million, aimed at improving the coverage, reliability, and flexibility of the provision of potable water and irrigation services for the population south of the city of Cordoba and the surrounding localities.  

Memorandum of Understanding

 In addition, CAF and the Government of Argentina signed memorandums of understanding to ratify the priority given to the following operations that will be formalized without delay for projects in different provinces and regions of the country, in strategic sectors for its sustainable development: 

Project to Improve the Railroad Connectivity to Constitución - Belgrano Sur Railroad: USD 55 million to improve the mobility and connectivity of the transportation services between the Metropolitan Region and the Central Area of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.  

Program for the Rehabilitation of Infrastructure in the Province of Buenos Aires: USD 10 million to contribute to the improvement of the drainage and flood control infrastructure in the districts of the Province of Buenos Aires that are facing a hydrological state of emergency.  

Project for the Coastal Hydrological Emergency: USD 40 million to contribute to improve the drainage and flood control infrastructure and repair of damages in the coastal provinces affected by the hydrological emergency. 

Program for the Development of New Irrigation Areas in Argentina (Stage II): USD 40 million to develop new irrigation areas and modernize the existing ones to improve the agro-productive competitiveness of the regional economies.  

Housing Services at the Base of the Pyramid: Linking Supply and Demand: With the objective of strengthening the organizational capacities of the communities, and the implementation of a trust to create a bridge between the supply and demand of housing improvements in vulnerable neighborhoods of the Municipality of Moreno, in the Greater Buenos Aires.