Peruvian govt. aims to pave 86% of national roads by mid-2016

The Peruvian government aims to pave 86% of the country's roads by mid-2016, including the Longitudinal Andean highway, part of a final infrastructure push before President Ollanta Humala (pictured) ends his five-year mandate next year.

About 78% of the country's 70,000km of roads were paved through February 2015, up from 53% in 2011, Humala said at a press conference with foreign correspondents at the presidential palace. He added that the Propuentes program, which has installed 500 rural bridges to date, aims to complete a total 1,000 bridges by mid-2016.

The government has already built 13 high-performance schools in provinces and plans to build at least one such school in each of the country's 25 regions by next year, according to Humala. The government also plans to build 1,000 state installations in remote rural areas known as "tambos", he said.

"We maintain a policy of expansive public investment," Humala said. "There's a deficit of social infrastructure and it has to be solved."

The government also plans to finish the third stage of the Chavimochic irrigation project in La Libertad and to start work on the second stage of the Majes-Sihuas initiative in Arequipa, he said. Also planned for this year is a bidding process for a methane contract to supply future petrochemical projects on the south coast.

Since taking office, in 2011 Humala's government has awarded US$18bn in public-private partnership infrastructure concessions, such as Line 2 of the Lima Metro, the southern Peruvian natural gas pipeline, thermal power plants, Pisco port and Chinchero airport. Humala steps down in July 2016 following general elections scheduled for April.