The Inter-American Development Bank today announced the approval of $40 million in loans for the first phase of a program to upgrade highway CA-13, which links Honduras main economic region with its Caribbean coast.
The program will help Honduras improve almost 330 kilometers of roads between El Progreso, close to the industrial hub of San Pedro Sula, and the coastal towns of Tela, La Ceiba and Trujillo, which have great potential for tourism and hotel investment projects.
During the first phase of the program investments will be made on a 68-kilometer stretch of CA-13 between El Progreso and Tela to transform a two-lane road into a four-lane highway.
Bridges, bypasses and drainage works will be built. Safety conditions will be improved with signage, pavement markings, shoulders, bus stop bays, left-turn lanes and pedestrian crossings.
The program will also help strengthen the planning, evaluation and management capacity of the Honduran Ministry of Public Works, Transportation and Housing.
The financing approved by the IDB’s Board of Executive Directors consists of a $28 million, 30-year loan with a variable interest rate and a $12 million, 40-year loan with a fixed interest rate of 0.25 percent a year.
The IDB is also financing investments to improve CA-5 Norte, the main highway of Honduras. Both corridors are priority roads for Honduras and the Mesoamerican Highways Network under the Puebla-Panama Plan regional integration initiative.