Roundup: Argentina road widening, Paraguay rail line conflict, Chile jails

Argentina

Argentine firm Pose started work on a 41.5bn-peso (US$40.1mn) contract to widen a 16km section of the Rosario-Santa Fe highway.

The works are expected to take 12 months and involve a section between Rosario’s beltway and the access road to the city of San Lorenzo, the Santa Fe provincial government said in a press release. 

“Santa Fe province really needs a lot of infrastructure to fulfill all of its potential,” governor Maximiliano Pullaro was quoted as saying by news outlet Cadena 3. He also blasted the federal administration for abandoning public works projects, saying that he was “embarrassed” about the state of national routes. 

Paraguay

Opposition is starting to build to a US$600mn project to install a 43km commuter train line in Paraguay capital Asunción, as locals are concerned about expropriation and decry a lack of contact with authorities.

“We will defend our homes. It is regrettable that [the government] wants to expel us without a serious relocation plan,” a local told daily Última Hora. 

The government is aiming to begin a prequalification process for the project this year.

Chile 

Chile’s justice ministry looks to boost the local jail system’s capacity by 28,850 spaces for inmates by 2030, and currently has 14 projects that are being tendered or are under construction, plus another 11 that are in earlier stages.

An additional six projects have been finished during the current administration, while the total investment for all 31 projects is estimated at 1.2tn pesos (US$1.2bn), the ministry said in a release.

Nearly half (14,494) of the planned new spaces come from the 11 projects that are in feasibility evaluation and resource approval stages.