Honduras seeking funding for dry corridor projects

The Honduran government is seeking funding to build and improve infrastructure that will allow the country to increase trade and enable it to compete with the Panama Canal. 

Secretary of the presidency Rodolfo Pastor de María y Campos said this week that the country requires investment in dry corridor projects, one of which was partially inaugurated last year. 

“We need to set higher goals for the connection between Cortés port and San Lorenzo in the south. Therefore, any comprehensive development plan for the country should prioritize the improvement of infrastructure and investments in a dry corridor,” he was quoted as saying by daily La Tribuna. 

In January last year a US$264mn dry corridor was opened by President Juan Orlando Hernández's administration. It included works on 330km of highways to link the country’s Pacific and Atlantic coasts and was funded by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei). 

The four-lane highway facilitates freight transportation from one end to the other in less than five hours. Nevertheless, the venture also entailed expanding Ampala port on the Pacific coast, enabling large cargo vessels to dock, but this expansion has not taken place due to insufficient funding.

Pastor de María added that investors from the US, Japan, South Korea, China and India have expressed interest in associated projects including the expansion of ports in southern and northern Honduras, which would boost exports.

Two additional projects that have captured investors' attention involve constructing a rail line and several dams, which would collectively cost around US$30bn.

According to ex-economic development minister Pedro Barquero, Italian investors have indicated their interest in the long-envisioned rail project, which would run from Cortés port to the Fonseca Gulf, a plan that was first suggested over a century ago.

 Photo: Dry corridor project. (Source: Cabei)