Tender begins for Juan Pablo II roadworks in Nicaragua

The tender process for works on the expansion of the Juan Pablo II highway in Managua has now been launched, according to Nicaraguan vice president Rosario Murillo.

The US$275mn modernization and expansion of the east-west road corridor in the capital involves widening the highway from four to six lanes, creating specific lanes for the Metrobus rapid bus transit system in the process, and connecting it to the Carretera Norte and Carretera Sur highways.

“Today [March 30], the bidding process began for the San Juan Pablo II road expansion project and the construction of the overpasses,” vice president Rosario Murillo was reported as saying by news portal El 19 Digital.

The tender includes sections one and four of the road. Section one entails the Nejapa overpass up to the Rotonda del Periodista roundabout, and section four is from Riguero to La Robelo on the Carretera Norte highway. The bidding process will last six months.

"This is a project that has been financed, for which we are grateful, with funds from the European Investment Bank [EIB] and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration [Cabei],".

In 2017, Nicaragua's national assembly unanimously approved a US$136mn loan agreement with the EIB. Cabei also announced it would lend US$105.5mn for the project.

The rest of the funds will come from the Nicaraguan central government and the Managua city authorities. The overall aim is to reduce congestion in the capital, partly through the first bus system. Earlier in March, Russia’s GAZ group revealed it will supply 550 buses to Nicaragua that have been specifically modified for its climate and road system. 

"Public transport is used by 800,000 Managua residents every day, which has a great impact on the mobility of the city, on the connectivity of the city," Fidel Moreno, secretary general of Managua city hall was quoted as saying by Radio La Primerisima.

According to Murillo, over 4,000 direct jobs will be created by the expansion works. There will be over 1mn square meters of property available for commercial activities along the Juan Pablo II highway, with 10,000 businesses expected to open in the next decade.

More information (in Spanish) on the tender is available on Nicaragua’s national procurement website, Nicaragua Compra.