Bolivia receives financing proposal for bioceanic railway

A Swiss-Austrian consortium delivered a formal financing proposal to Bolivia's government for the so-called bioceanic railway, one of the continent's biggest infrastructure initiatives, a senior Bolivian official said.

The consortium's proposal includes the cost per km of the freight rail line, construction of the Bulo Bulo-Villa Tunari link and a study for the Villa Tunari-Cochabamba link, public works minister Milton Claros said. The ministry will study the proposal together with the finance and planning ministries, he said.

"They sent us a formal proposal and we've now requested some additional details," Claros told a press conference in La Paz.

President Evo Morales signed an MOU in December with the Swiss government whereby a consortium of 30 firms led by Swissrail and Austria's Verband der Bahnindustrie agreed to invest US$10-15mn in design work for the railway project.

Morales has also courted investors from China, Russia, Germany, Spain and the UK for the project.

A group of Spanish firms has sent the government a financing proposal, according to Claros.

The 3,755km continent-spanning railway, which is estimated to cost up to US$20bn, is designed to link the Brazilian port of Santos and Ilo on Peru's coast via Bolivia, in addition to links with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Peru and Bolivia earlier this year expressed their intent to move ahead this year with pre-investment studies for the project.