As Gestion reports, the
government is apparently leaning towards the construction of a new Central
Highway, with new layout and design, based on elevated roads and tunnels, as is
done modernly throughout the world. The Central Highway links the capital of
Peru, Lima, with the departments of the central “sierra” and jungle: Junín,
Cerro de Pasco, Huánuco, Ucayali, Huancavelica.
But better alternatives are on
the Executive table, as this blog reported at the time (post: 01,
02,
03);
for example, the proposals of the Junín Region, collected by the Ministry of
Transport and Communications, MTC, for a new modern route for the Central
Railroad, based on 3 trans-Andean tunnels, of a total of 43 km. A reference is
the 57-kilometer St.
Gotthard Tunnel, which crosses the Alps between Switzerland and Italy
The second alternative is
superior from the point of view of connectivity, technology, and energy, and
even more in the context of China's unstoppable "Belt
and Road” initiative; the projected Brazil-Peru
bioceanic railway corridor and the necessary national electric rail
network. For a country with increasing oil imports and an untapped
hydroelectric generation potential, the advantage of the rail project is
remarkable.
According to Gestión (3.12.19),
studies of the trans-Andean rail tunnel are carried out by an Italian-Korean
consortium, and it is expected that in 2020 it will be tendered as a
co-financed state initiative. The project consists of 3 tunnels, 25, 13 and 5
k.m., and other works, with a cost of US $ 1,704 million.
In the first year alone, the now
almost inoperative Central Railroad should receive 2.15 million tons of
additional cargo, also improving the today catastrophic passenger transport.
9.12.19
