USD 550 million for socio-productive infrastructure, energy, and sustainable transportation projects in Brazil

CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, approved USD 250 million for the Municipality of Fortaleza to finance the program Valuation and Expansion of the Infrastructure and Tourism Activity of Fortaleza (PROVATUR), which seeks to make a comprehensive revaluation of the city's historic center, using tourism as the backbone of the interventions to create quality urban spaces and greater opportunities for its citizens. 

Enrique Garcia, CAF´s Executive President, stated, "Latin America needs more inclusive, productive, and eco-efficient cities, and that is exactly what the Cities with Future program promotes, in the framework of the loan approved for the municipality of Fortaleza". 

The program, with a total cost of USD 500 million of which CAF will contribute 50 percent and the Municipal Prefecture of Fortaleza the remaining 50 percent, will be executed by the Municipal Secretariat of Tourism of Fortaleza (SETFOR), and includes actions to recover public spaces, historic buildings, improvement of urban mobility, creation of productive employment opportunities, increase in citizen safety, and consolidation of the historic and cultural segment. 

To partially finance the costs of expanding the 355 kilometer long underwater gas pipeline "Route 3" which will join the Pre-Sal pole of the Santos Basin with the Petrochemical Complex of Rio de Janeiro (COMPERJ), CAF approved a loan for USD 200 million for Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras).

Enrique Garcia expressed, "Investment in the energy sector is one of the key factors for development and integration in the region, therefore, it is one of the priorities in the comprehensive development model that CAF promotes for Latin America, and it is part of a priority sector for Brazil". 

The development of oil reserves in Brazil is considered of vital importance for the country's economic performance in the coming period. The Federal Government estimates that investments in the sector will reach USD 400 billion by 2020, expanding the weight of the oil industry, which will go from the current 12 percent of GDP to 20 percent in 2020. During the same period, it is expected that the number of people employed in the sector will go from 450 thousand to 2 million, advancing social and economic development in several areas of the country.  

In order to reverse the environmental degradation process of the Oceanic Region, CAF granted a loan to the Municipality of Niteroi for USD 100 million to support the program Sustainable Oceanic Region -PRO Sustentable, which seeks to improve urban mobility and sanitation in the neighborhoods, and increase  the wellbeing of the local population by means of improving urban and road infrastructure through the implementation of a comprehensive management system between the different municipal secretariats, with the participation of the local population. 

President Garcia highlighted, " We trust the socio-economic benefits that this Program will bring, as it will not only impact on the reverssal of the environmental degradation of the Oceanic Region, which has been a result of the explosive growth of its population, but also mainly on the improvement of the conditions and quality of life of the inhabitants of the area". 

With this support, CAF will contribute to the solution of the urban mobility problems that affect the Municipality of Niteroi, favoring the movement of the population, improving accessibility, preventing environmental degradation, and significantly reducing travel times. 

The initiative, which will benefit more than 68 thousand inhabitants in 11 municipal neighborhoods, is structured around the BRT-Transoceanic project, which consists in the implementation of a structural and comprehensive transportation system for the Oceanic Region of Niteroi, and includes complementary actions to reverse th environmental degradation process in the region by mens of four components: urbanization, infrastructure, environmental sustainability, and monitoring and evaluation.  

The program's total cost reaches USD 200 million, of which 50 percent will be financed by CAF, and the remaining 50% by local funds. The executing agency s the Vice-Prefecture of Niteroi.