Pilar port financing approval expected month-end

Paraguay's congress is expected to approve by month-end a loan from the River Plate basin development fund Fonplata to expand the Pilar river port in Neembuco department, an official from the country's navigation and port administrator (ANNP) told BNamericas. Once congress approves the US$9mn loan for the US$11.5mn project, ANNP will launch tenders to push forward the port's modernization, said the official. Although Paraguay and Fonplata inked a loan agreement in June of last year, budget constraints and this year's change of government, have kept the project on the back burner. The government has tagged the project a priority to help ease increased demand on other river ports in the landlocked country, such as capital Asuncion's, and to increase trade with neighboring Argentina. The principal work would entail increasing the port's draught, which would allow Pilar to function even during low river levels, said the official, adding that 70% of Paraguay's foreign trade is done on the Paraguay and Parana rivers. Pilar on the Paraguay river, is some 50km north of the confluence of both rivers.