Peruvian government announces that five powers have expressed interest in executing Majes Siguas

MIDAGRI Press Release

This is an automated translation of the press release issued in Spanish

The Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI) announced that Japan, the Netherlands, Israel, Canada and the United Kingdom have expressed their interest in participating in the award process for the Majes Siguas project, under the Government to Government modality.

"This project will ultimately be built by one of these five countries, which ensures that we will have high levels of quality and execution for this mega-project," said the head of Midagri, Angel Manero.

He also stressed that "the investment in this comprehensive project will be around 3 billion dollars," and the contract could be signed in April of this year.

As is known, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent an invitation a few weeks ago to 17 potential countries identified by Midagri, based on technical criteria, with the aim of knowing their interest in participating in the process of awarding this irrigation project that will allow the expansion of the agricultural frontier for export purposes.

After receiving the expressions of interest from the nations interested in the execution of this irrigation project located in Arequipa, the Government will proceed to prepare the results report and submit the preliminary scope of the technical assistance service.

It should be recalled that in November of last year, the Minister of Agrarian Development and Irrigation, Angel Manero, announced the launch of the international call for proposals to carry out the rehabilitation of the Majes project, the construction of the intermediate dam, and potentially the second stage of the project.

The Majes Siguas project has two components: Majes I, which includes the Condoroma dam (285 Hm3), the transfer of water from the Colca River to the Siguas River (88 km of tunnels, 13 km of canals), the construction of the Tuti intake – Desander (discharge capacity 34 m3/s) and the transport of water from the Colca and Siguas rivers from the Pitay intake to the Pampas de Majes. A system of canals, regulating basins, pipelines and others are also contemplated.

While Majes II includes the construction of the Angostura dam (1,140 million cubic meters), the Pucará – Colca diversion (7.06 km), the Trans-Andean tunnel (11.28 km); the Lluclla intake – Desarenador (23 m3/s), the tunnel – Canal Pampa Siguas pipeline (15.95 km) and the main canal (14.43 km).

The implementation of Majes Siguas II includes the expansion of the agricultural frontier by 38,500 new hectares of crops, mainly destined for agroindustry and agroexportation; and there it is expected to develop plantations of grapes, avocados, citrus, blueberries and cherries among other high-value products.