IDB to finance specialized studies as well as investment and action plans for regional initiatives, with particular emphasis on the Pacific Corridor
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will provide a total $800,000 through technical cooperation grants of $400,000 each for the Strategic Program for Infrastructure Development and the Strategic Program for Integration Development. The beneficiaries will be Mesoamerican Project member nations Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.
The operation’s goal is to contribute to the Mesoamerican region’s logistics development through studies and action plans aimed at generating regional transportation and logistics strategies; promoting regional investment plans; supporting the transformation of the Pacific Corridor (part of the Inter-American Network of Mesoamerican Roads running from Puebla, Mexico, to Panama City); and fostering the implementation of National Logistics Plans.
Assistance to the regional strategies will focus on three areas: intermodal transport, cargo logistics, and urban mobility. The Pacific Corridor component will fund an operational study and investment plans to identify and prioritize high-impact transport and logistics projects in the corridor countries, with special emphasis on the Northern Triangle nations (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador). Support for the implementation of national logistics plans will benefit those countries, plus Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
Referring to the need to kickstart transportation projects that facilitate intraregional trade, the IDB’s Manager of the Central America, Mexico, Panama, Haiti and the Dominican Republic Country Department, Gina Montiel, said: “Maximizing logistics performance and infrastructure investments in the region is still a key pending subject on the road to buttress Mesoamerica’s and Central America’s competitiveness. This support is aimed at offering planning and prioritization instruments for strategic transport and logistics infrastructure in order to boost up connectivity and improve logistics performance and border management in the region.”
The project, expected to be completed in 24 months, will receive an additional $120,000 in counterpart funds, taking the grand total to $920,000.
About the IDB
The Inter-American Development Bank is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source oflong-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean.The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research and provides policy advice, technical assistance and training to public and private sector clients throughout the region.