Guatemala looking to close infrastructure gap with law to revitalize key highways

Guatemala's congress has approved a law aimed at maintaining and repairing the country's main highways as they are considered essential for economic development. 

The law, passed on November 12, establishes standards to carry out diagnostics, pre-investment works, prioritization, planning, design and construction of highways. Repair, expansion, operation and maintenance works are also included. 

The aim is to ensure that the major terrestrial routes in the country are in the best possible condition to handle heavy vehicle traffic.

The roads that the new law will focus on are the following: 

1. Central American route CA-1 West, from km 45 to km 99 – El Tejar-Tecpan.
2. Central American route CA-1 East from km 31 to km 40 – Pueblo Nuevo Viñas. 
3. Central American route CA-2 West, from km 61 to km 252 – Escuintla-Tecún Umán-San Marcos.
4. Central American route CA-2 East, from km 61 to km162 – Escuintla-Pedro de Alvarado Jutiapa.
5. Central American route CA-8, from km 74 to km 120 – El Molino Santa Rosa-Frontera Valle Nuevo.
6. Central American route CA-9 North, from km 21 to km 41 – Guatemala-Sanarate. 
7. Central American route CA-9 South, from km 36 to km 39. 
8. Central American route CA-13, from CA-9 North to Frontera Corinto customs facility.
9. Central American route CA-14, from km 84.5 to km 210 – El Rancho, Sanarate-Cobán, Alta Verapaz.
10. Central American route CA-10
11. Central American route CA-11
12. Central American route CA-12
13. Metropolitan beltway
14. Regional beltway C-50
15. Regional beltway – other sections.

NGOs like Fundesa and Acción Ciudadana praised the new law, describing it as the most important initiative for Guatemala’s infrastructure in the last 20 years. However, Fundesa added that more money needs to be invested. 

"According to the 2018-2032 Road Development Plan, Guatemala faces a road infrastructure gap that requires increasing the road network from 17,440km to 37,952km. That means that investment is needed in 21,165km, as well as the reclassification of 7,692km of the existing road network,” Fundesa said on its website.

“To close this gap over a 20-year period (spanning five consecutive governments), the construction capacity would need to be increased to 1,500km of road per year, in contrast to the average between 1995 and 2018, which was around 216km built per year,” the NGO added.