New Loan for Road Infrastructure in Ecuador

(Caracas, April 4^th, 2013). With the objective of supporting the public investment carried out by the National Government to preserve the country's road patrimony, CAF - Latin American Development Bank, and the Republic of Ecuador signed a loan contract for the partial financing of the Program in Support of Public Investment for Road Infrastructure, for USD 75 million. 

Enrique Garcia, CAF's Executive President, who signed the agreement with Leonardo Arizaga, Ecuador's Ambassador in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, stated that, "CAF's support to Ecuador is based on the development plan and the sectors considered strategic by the National Government". 

CAF's Executive President stated that, "among the recent approvals in favor of Ecuador, the support to infrastructure investment programs with a high impact on competitiveness and mobility at a national level, in addition to numerous approvals in recent years for the transportation and road sectors stand out". 

The Program in Support of Public Investment for Road Infrastructure will promote the conservation of the country's road patrimony, with its consequent positive impact in the improvement of traffic conditions, road security, and the quality and level of services in the existing network, as well as in the development of new roads, facilitating vehicular transportation and the comfort of users. 

This Program supports financing for the execution of contracts to preserve the highways that seek to rehabilitate the already existing roads through permanent maintenance of the road network. In addition, the Program has a component to support the strengthening of the planning management of the transportation sector. 

The Program is framed within Ecuador's National Development Plan, which foresees a sustainable improvement of the cargo and passenger transportation conditions in the State Road Network, through the planning of programs and projects aimed at reducing transportation costs and travelling times by increasing traffic conditions and road security of a substantial portion of the corridors and priority roads in the network, which connect the production areas with the internal market and neighboring countries.