VENEZUELA: Transport sector receives US$30 million

Caracas, Maracay, Valencia, San Cristobal and Barcelona-Puerto La Cruz are some of the cities that will benefit from a loan granted today to the Republic of Venezuela to finance the National Urban Transport Program, project whose executive executing agency is FONTUR (National Urban Transport Fund).

The loan for US$30 million with a ten-year term will finance a global plan for multiple urban transport works structured into two basic components: investment and institutional strengthening.

The signing in the CAF headquarters in Caracas took place in the presence of Minister of Transport and Communications Ciro Zaa; acting director of Public Finance of the Ministry of Finance, Mauricio Roitman; executive director of FONTUR, Pedro Briceño; and CAF President & CEO Enrique García, who said the operation was "one more example of the institution’s unrestricted financial backing for member countries, in line with our mission of permanently supporting the sustainable development of the region, especially in the area of infrastructure."

CAF - financial institution formed by Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela – provides trade, investment and development banking services. With assets over US$2.25 billion, the Corporation’s shareholders also include Mexico, Chile, Trinidad and Tobago, and 22 private banks from the Andean region, which will shortly be joined by Brazil.

The National Urban Transport Program will be executed over five years by FONTUR, a non-profit foundation attached to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, with the participating municipalities as co-executors. The investment sub-program includes local plans for works to improve infrastructure and the level of urban transport services, while the institutional strengthening program will support the work of FONTUR, the Ministry Traffic Department with the municipalities and with the operators of the passenger transport service.