Minister negotiates US$22mn disbursement to avoid road delays

Jorge Urquidi, Bolivia's minister of public works and services has negotiated a US$22mn disbursement from the national treasury to prevent the paralysis of key road projects, La Prensa reported. Urquidi said the treasury has committed to providing the funds as local counterpart funding to begin paving the Cotapata-Santa Bárbara highway and to complete construction of the Ventilla-Tarapaya, Oruro-Pisiga and la Mamora-km19 roads. National highways authority SNC previously said that work on the 49km Cotapata-Santa Bárbara highway in La Paz department had been paralyzed due to lack of local funding. A tax on financial transactions is expected to raise US$90mn that can be used for extra-budget items.