US$110 million for financing freeway in Quito

(Caracas, July 7, 2009).- With the purpose of partly financing the Gualo-Puembo Freeway in Ecuador, the executive vice-president of the Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), Luis Enrique Berrizbeitia, and the general manager of EMMOP-Q, the municipal company in charge of transportation and public works in the Quito Metropolitan District, Iván Alvarado, signed a loan contract for US$ 110 million, and Ecuador’s ambassador to Venezuela, René Vargas Pazos, signed the guarantee contract on behalf of the nation. EMMOP-Q is to be the executor agency.

“This is the fourth credit operation that CAF has granted Quito and it demonstrates the Corporation’s great interest in supporting the city’s transformation and improvements to the quality of life of its inhabitants,” explained Luis Enrique Berrizbeitia. “This road is crucial for efficiently linking up the city with its new airport, currently under construction, while at the same time making it possible to substantially improve vehicular traffic in other parts of the city,” stated CAF’s executive vice-president, who also stressed the importance of efficient physical infrastructure for the sustainable development of its shareholder countries and the wellbeing of their populations.

The project to be financed by CAF consists of the construction of a freeway that will link up the Gualo cloverleaf with Puembo, a sector in the northeastern part of the city. This is a new road that will be 13.5 kilometers long and include the construction of two suspension bridges, each with a span of approximately 500 meters, over the San Pedro/Guayllabamba and Guambi rivers.

The total cost of the project has been initially estimated at US$ 127.40 million, 86% of which is to be financed by CAF, with the municipality contributing US$ 17.40 million.