Nicaragua road project funding deal

Nicaragua’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (MTI) is setting out its road development programme for 2018. In all the plans call for the construction of 171km of roads. Work will be completed for the road from Mulukuku to Siuna, with the first 23km stretch due to open in September 2018 and the remaining 21.5km expected in December 2018. Meanwhile the road from Nueva Guinea to San Francisco should be complete by November 2018. Work started on these two routes in 2016.

The project also calls for improvement works to a number of bridges. MIT -plans to construct the new Wiwili Bridge at a cost of US$11.6 million. A further $&.8 million will be used for the design and consultancy costs for the construction of the Labu, Lisawe, Mulukuku and Prinzapolka bridges. Funding for this bridge work is being supplied by the 2416 Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

In the capital, Managua, funding sources are being secured for the Pista Juan Pablo II highway as well as a number of other infrastructure upgrades. The 9.55km road project will also include the construction of five new flyovers and in all the work is expected to cost $275 million. The second phase covers work on the Rene Cisneros-Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) stretch. The third phase will connect UCA with El Riguero while the fourth phase will connect El Riguero with Robelo. No further details over the opening of a tender process for the project and the launch of works have been provided.

The work will be carried out in four phases, with the first being for the 2.6km 7 Sur-Rene Cisneros district section. Funding worth $136 million is being provided by the 1054 European Investment Bank (EIB), with a further $105.5 million coming from the 863 Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). As yet the tender process has still to be announced while a timeline for the construction works has yet to be revealed.