Paraguay: operation of US$ 9.5 million for road infrastructure approved

The Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) has approved an operation of $ 9.5 million for the Republic of Paraguay, for a period of up to ten years, intended to partially finance the National Route 10 Complementary Works Program, the purpose of which is to link up major agricultural zones located in the RN 10’s area of influence with the country’s economic circuit, and also to develop the route’s logistics, modernization, and road security. The Ministry of Public Works and Communications will be the agency in charge of carrying out the program.

CAF’s Executive President, Enrique García, highlighted the importance of the approval of this credit as a contribution by the multilateral agency to financing projects within the Initiative for Integration of South American Regional Infrastructure (IIRSA), designed to modernize the region’s physical integration infrastructure in the areas of energy, telecommunications, and transportation, as an essential element in South America’s process of economic and social development.

García went on to say that a region that is more integrated from the point of view of its physical infrastructure could make more effective headway in overcoming obstacles to development, because the cohesion of physical infrastructure in South America would make it possible to obtain better financial and trade gains and, therefore, for the region to become better integrated into the international scenario.

With this new loan, CAF will finance the blacktopping of the access roads to RN 10, a total of 37.4 km benefiting five agricultural zones belonging to the departments of Canindeyú and San Pedro in Yrybu Cuá Municipality; the installation of tollbooths, weigh stations, and traffic police modules; complementary works such as drainage systems, security, and environmental protection; and the strengthening of the institutional aspects of the Public Credit and Internal Auditing Departments of the Vice-ministry of Administration and Finance.

Yesterday, CAF’s headquarters in Caracas was the venue for a meeting between Enrique García and the Paraguayan Delegation made up of José Alberto Alderete, the Minister of Public Works and Communications, Roberto Salinas and Juan E. Snead, both of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications, and the Ambassador of Paraguay in Caracas, Ana María Figueredo. At the meeting, views were exchanged on the investment projects of the IIRSA and the specific undertakings of Paraguay requiring funding. It was also commented that the Paraguayan government was to shortly increase its capital contribution to CAF in order to obtain access to an increased line of financing from this agency.

On this matter, García expressed his predisposition to finance the electrical-mechanical works for the dam on the Añacuá arm of the Yacyretá reservoir, for which a meeting would be held shortly in Paraguay to analyze the prospects of progress on this project.

CAF has catered to the transportation sector in Paraguay since 2000 through different loans amounting to a total of US$ 80 million. These loans were for financing a number of projects of national interest, among them the Paraguay-Bolivia Integration Corridor Program for US$ 60 million.