IDB approves US$360mn financing for road networks and satellite technology in Argentina

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved two credit operations for US$360mn that will be used to strengthen the road infrastructure and technological progress in the space field in order to increase the competitiveness of the productive sectors and boost the national industry.

Regional Road Infrastructure Development

In this way, the Federal Regional Transportation Infrastructure Program aims to improve the quality of service of provincial and municipal road networks based on the rehabilitation and structural reinforcement of pavements on provincial routes (PR). These works will boost the productive development of agricultural areas from improvements in passability and connectivity to the centers of greater economic and commercial importance.

The works that will be executed during 2020 and 2021, with IDB financing for US$300mn, are the RP N° 6 and N° 8 Stretch Cordova Pass - La Esperanza, in Río Negro; the RP N° 23 Sentence Section in Villa Elisa and the Road Circunvalación of the City of Gualeguaychú, in Entre Ríos; and the RP N° 1 Section Splice National Route N° 18 - RP N° 48, in Catamarca. The 184,118 inhabitants of the intervened locations will benefit you, where 15,311 users will travel the improved roads daily.

This operation is the first part of a total financing of US$600mn that will be granted by the IDB in the framework of a program that consists of increasing the capital currently available to the Federal Regional Infrastructure Trust Fund (FFFIR) for a total amount of US$1.020bn through financing from FONPLATA, CAF and IDB.

Satellite Technology Development

In addition, the IDB approved US460mn for the implementation of the Satellite Technology Development (PROSAT II) program. This operation is carried out within the framework of the SAOCOM Mission, composed of satellites 1A and 1B, which aims to improve the management of different economic and prevention activities in the country. The total amount represents an investment of US$91mn and corresponds to the last phase of the SAOCOM mission. The first part, also carried out with IDB financing, put the SAOCOM 1A Satellite into orbit.

The public and private organizations linked to agricultural, forestry and environmental production distributed in an area of 100mn hectares of the Humid Pampa and regional economies will be beneficiaries, who will be able to access accurate data related to disaster risk management, surveillance of the wealth of fish at the level of the continental shelf, oil spills, among others. In this sense, the improvement in the use of satellite applications and information is expected to impact on greater productivity in different sectors of the country's socio-economic environment.

The approvals reflect the work coordinated by the Undersecretariat of International Financial Relations of the Ministry of Finance and IDB officials, with the shared commitment to increase trade, improve the efficiency of national production and quality of life, promote utilization intensive labor to reduce socioeconomic imbalances and move towards a more sustainable and federal country.