Argentina Norte Grande II Road Infrastructure Program

The Program is an investment loan that has as an objective to facilitate the integration of the various productive regions of the provinces of NOA y NEA (North-West Argentina and North-East Argentina) to the process of economic development, through the improvement of intra and inter-regional accessibility and connectivity conditions, and/or complimenting public as well as private investments and actions, to facilitate the economic growth and diversification process within the different nucleuses and circuits of economic activity of the regions.

The components include: i) Road infrastructure and duplication works to achieve a pre-established level of service according to the average traffic of the road, covering both national corridors and routes that conn ect reginoal production poles or important towns; ii) Actions to improve highway safety including horizontal and vertical demarcation and rearrangement of town crossings; iii) Routine maintenance of road segments to be improved by the program; iv) Institutional strengthening of the executing and co-executing agencies.

IDB.AR-L1133:Norte Grande II Road Infrastructure Program

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Argentina.AR Santa Fe Road Infrastructure

Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document).The overall purpose of the project is to improve transport conditions along a strategic road corridor that links the Province of Santa Fe with regional and international markets. Adding capacity to National Road 19, a key component of a major bi-oceanic corridor that links the PSF and the Center Region with Chile and Brazil will reduce logistics costs, facilitate access to major regional consumption and export markets and foster the effective economic integration of the Center Region provinces

World Bank. Author:  Serebrisky,Tomas S.Document Date: 2011/12/13. Document Type:  Implementation Status and Results Report.Report Number: ISR5250

Argentina - AR Santa Fe Road Infrastructure : P099051 - Implementation Status Results Report : Sequence 10

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Argentina will improve priority roads in its provincial network with IDB support

News Releases. Nov 30, 2011. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a loan for $200 million to finance the upgrading of priority roads in Argentina’s provincial roads network and their links to the national road network, a project that will help improve competitiveness and economic and social development, as well as reduce accidents.

The Productive Road Infrastructure Program II is the second operation financed with funds from a $2.5 billion credit line for investment projects for the country that was approved in September 2009. The credit line’s purpose was to finance road infrastructure in all of the country’s provinces through construction, maintenance, institutional strengthening, and better road safety.

The first operation, totaling $120 million, was signed in March 2010 and it is financing the Productive Road Infrastructure Program I. The new loan will finance road infrastructure in the provinces of Mendoza, Buenos Aires, San Juan and Entre Rios, among others.

Objectives include: improvement, maintenance and rehabilitation of roads, reduced travel time and transport costs, improved road safety and reduction of accidents, and development of management plans and institutional strengthening for provincial transport agencies.

Road safety support will include the identification of critical points and the implementation of design and construction of safety features in a pilot corridor.Other actions could include outreach and community awareness and training and interaction with other provincial entities that have responsibility for road safety.

"Due to the large number of accidents that take place on the country’s highways, the Argentine government has made road safety a priority with the creation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Agency," said Fernando Orduz, IDB project team leader."Through this program and other support for the country’s roads, the Bank is promoting actions to improve road safety conditions and ensure compliance with appropriate standards in all new investments.These actions are consistent with the United Nation’s launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety."

The $200 million IDB loan is for a 25-year term, with a four-year grace period, and a variable interest rate based on LIBOR. Local counterpart funding totals $10.5 milliond