Lima.– The Government of Peru “has not authorized nor does it plan to invest” in a train that connects Brazil with the Pacific Ocean, declared this Wednesday the president of the Council of Ministers, Eduardo Arana, as a result of the feasibility studies that the authorities will carry out Brazilian with China on a railway line to the Peruvian megaport of Chancay.
In a press conference, Arana said that what the Government of Brazil may have discussed with that of China “is a project that they can do”, but that “does not imply, in any way, that the Government of Peru has participated, nor did it have to have participated”.
He added that, for that railway interconnection project to materialize, there would have to be a train and that, if the Peruvian Government were to participate, "it would have to pay for the train", valued at some 10 billion dollars.
However, the head of the cabinet stated that "the Government of Peru has not authorized nor does it intend to invest that amount at this time."
He added that, if Brazil wants to do it and it is a private investment, then the Ministry of Transport and Communications "will see if it authorizes it".
Arana said that, for years, "Brazil has been trying to reach the Pacific in several ways" and that it has tried through the southern port of Matarani or even that of Callao, neighboring Lima.
However, he pointed out that "given the offer that the port of Chancay has", with Chinese capital and located on the central coast of Peru, "it is also evident that it has a vision of the Pacific as one of its gateways for shipping or receiving merchandise from Asia".
Last Monday, the Governments of Brazil and China signed a cooperation agreement for a series of studies that will determine the feasibility of a railway line connecting the Brazilian state of Bahia with the Peruvian port of Chancay.
The Brazilian Ministry of Transport explained in a note that the participation of the Asian giant will take place through the state-owned company China State Railway Group, which will collaborate with the "economic, social and environmental" feasibility studies of that initiative.
The project, still in its early stages, aims to build a railway line that would connect the port of Ilheus, on the Atlantic coast of the state of Bahia, with the so-called Peruvian megaport of Chancay, on the Pacific Ocean.
That port terminal began operations last June, was built with a strong contribution of Chinese capital and is one of the projects that Peru has agreed with China within the framework of the New Silk Road, of which Brazil is not a part.
According to the initial project that will be studied by Brazil and China, the railway to Peru would depart from the port of Ilheus and arrive in Chancay through the Brazilian states of Goias, Mato Grosso, Rondonia and Acre.
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